


Fuckin' Lovely

by Whorever



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Amputee!Ryuji, Asexual!Yusuke, Demons, F/F, Gen, Humor, M/M, Poltergeists, Supernatural AU - Freeform, Wendigos, Werewolf!Makoto, akira has powers but what are they ooo, and yusuke not understanding the situation at all, half siren!yusuke, lots of ryuji being sarcastic, not the show but the theme, ryuji is a human, succubus!ann, will add to tags later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-24
Updated: 2017-12-06
Packaged: 2018-12-06 12:07:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 23,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11600322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Whorever/pseuds/Whorever
Summary: Akira and Ryuji make a living out of causing chaos upon going after things humans can't see. Ranging from being put under by a singing siren, to nearly dying at the claws of a wolf, hunting the supernatural isn't an easy job...or is it rewarding... or is it paid well at all. Why are they doing this again?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first time I've attempted to do an episodic story of sorts. I'm very excited for this and I hope you guys like it as well. Feedback would be wonderful!

“Not trying to criticize your work ethics or anythin’ man but--” The voice came in a panicked tone, the blonde man it belonged to taking a look over his shoulder in an attempt to see what his partner was fighting. That had been a mistake. “--what the HELL were you thinking GOING AFTER A GROUP OF POLTERGISTS?!”

“Duck.”

The blonde pulled his head forward, immediately obeying his partners command and leaning down towards the handles of the motorcycle he was driving. Akira--the man that was currently sitting facing the end of the motorcycle--dipped his body towards the left, effectively dodging an entire drop box for mail that had just been chucked their way.

Ryuji --the one currently steering them where ever was away from what was following them--brought his head back up after the wind whipped through the hairs on the back of his neck from the object hurled at them. “WAS THAT A FUCKING MAILBOX?!” He hollered.

Akira ignored his companion, focusing on a way to get them out of the mess they were in. They were currently being tailed by three poltergeist, and three of the strongest ones that Akira had ever seen. The mailbox was nothing for the one that threw it and it concerned that shaggy-haired man if it showed to have any telekinesis powers and how strong they would be.

“Ryuji, did you hear anything back from Mishima?”

“WHEN HAVE I HAD THE TIME TO CHECK ON THAT?” Ryuji hollered back at him. Akira let out a breath, knowing he had a point. The blonde took a sharp turn with the curve of the road, Akira leaning in with the turn while staring back at the three spirits that followed after them. They were at least pretty slow, but that didn’t stop them from being pissed off. The bit of salt in Akira’s jacket wasn’t going to do anything against these guys. And it wasn’t like they had time to just stop and get more.

“Dude, what’s the plan here? I can’t lead these guys into town!”

Akira took a look at their surroundings, trying to think of something. His hair blew across his face with the wind that whipped past them, eyes landing on an old sign that probably meant nothing to anyone in town anymore. “Turn at that road on the right.” He commanded, watching as the two were close to passing it.

Ryuji let out a groan, hitting the brake on the bike harder than Akira would’ve liked. He placed his metal limb on the ground and used it to help turn the bike in the direction it needed to go. The road Akira directed them to was a cracked dirt road. What was once a smooth ride now turned into an aggressively bumpy one. “Where the hell are we goin’?” Ryuji questioned.

“To a cemetery.”

“What?!” Ryuji turned his head back to look at Akira like he was crazy. “Are you for real!?”

“If you can think of something better, I’m all ears.” That shut the blond up, the man now focusing on missing as many of the potholes in the road as possible. Akira stared at the poltergeists that were now a good distance away from them. He squinted when he heard the creaking of metal from where they stood. “Hit the brakes!” He shouted to which Ryuji slammed them down, the bike skidding across the dirt road with a loud screech. Before the motorcycle came to a complete stop, a metal bench landed roughly in front of them, missing the pair by just a few seconds.

Ryuji’s eyes watched as the bench bounced off the ground and skipped across the road like a rock thrown across a lake. He shook his head and then kicked off the bike again, getting back on track with their destination. “What the hell are up with those things?!”

“They’re a little mad at us.” Akira commented.

“A little feels like an understatement!” If the two got out of this alive, Ryuji had to remember just how much shit Akira owed him for this. The first thing would be starting off with Akira paying for a check up on his motorcycle. His brakes had to need something after that.

He dismissed the thought, accelerating up to a high speed again and spotting the cemetery Akira spoke of in the distance. He pushed his bike just a bit more to try and get there faster. Ryuji had a vague idea of what Akira might do and if that was the case, he had to buy them some time for him to work his magic.

Akira must have been thinking the same thing, mumblings of some language that Ryuji didn’t understand dropping from his lips. The blonde didn’t think about it, he just trusted Akira to do what he had to do and focused on making as wide enough of a turn into the cemetery as he could. Dirt kicked up under the wheels of the bike as he made his turn, thankful that the old gate that used to keep people out had previously been knocked down.

Ryuji slowed the bike down to a stop when they made it closer towards the center of the area, Akira hoping off of it before it was completely immobile. Ryuji knocked the kickstand down with his foot and then ran after his partner. “What do you want me to do?”

Akira didn’t respond, instead running to the closest headstone and using his sleeve to wipe it clean enough for him to make out the information engraved into it. He did this to the next two beside them and then closed his eyes and bowed his head down.

Ryuji took that to mean that he wasn’t needed and instead turned his attention towards the way they came from, looking for any sign that the poltergeist were coming. He bawled his hand into a fist, feeling frustrated that he couldn’t see them the way Akira could.

“Spirits show yourselves, spirits reveal, spirits come to me so I know you are real!” Akira chanted, his voice thick.

Ryuji turned upon hearing the chant. “Uh, what?” He questioned, realizing Akira was summoning the spirits of the people that were buried under the headstones he touched.

Metal creaking tore his gaze back towards the front, eyes widening when he watched the feeble gate he rode past get torn from it’s place in the ground. It rose up into the air, the ends of it suddenly getting folded inward until it made a messed up ball like shape. “Akiiiraaa….” Ryuji called with worry.

The blond stared with wide eyes at the floating metal death trap that was likely about to be launched at the two of them. He couldn’t think about what to do, knowing he was completely useless in this situation. If Akira would hurry up with his stupid summoning, they could maybe drive off but that thing looked ready to launch any second now.

Ryuji moved to turn his head back and check Akira’s process but instead found his body getting tackled to the side. His body hit the dirt ground, his left shoulder landing on a hidden headstone. He let out a loud wince once the pain spread through the muscle. Ryuji barely had time to open his eyes before his body was moving again. He was being dragged through the dirt ground by his bad leg, but when Ryuji opened his eyes to see by what, he was met with nothing. He let go of his shoulder, trying to use his hands to grab hold of something on the ground, but nothing gave him grip. “Akira!!” Ryuji hollered, throwing his body around to get loose from whatever had hold on him.

Not even a minute later, Akira’s hands made contact with Ryuji’s shoulders, tucking his arms under Ryuji’s and effectively stopping him from getting pulled any closer. Ryuji tried to gain some support by planting his free foot into the ground and pushing back into Akira. “What the fuck has my leg?!” He questioned.

“Nothing.” Akira commented, struggling with his tug of war with Ryuji. “It’s using telekinesis. It’s going for your prosthetic.”

Ryuji threw his head back with a groan, trying with one last effort to pull his leg free. He felt the straps to his prosthetic tug, and the latch that was locked in was rattling from how hard it was being pulled at. Ryuji struggled, really not wanting to lose his prosthetic for the __third__  time to something he couldn’t even see. Finally he gave in and with a groan threw his head back. “Just do it already man.”

Akira let out a sigh and struggled for a moment as he reached over Ryuji’s body to get to the end of his stump and hit the release button to the lower half of his prosthetic. The second his finger was able to get the locking mechanism to release, the prosthetic was gone, joining the pile of metal in the sky.

Ryuji stumbled backwards, but Akira steadied their balance and immediately directed them back towards Ryuji’s motorcycle. “We have to get out of here.”

“We’re just gonna leave ‘em?” Ryuji asked, using Akira as a crutch. Akira didn’t comment, but instead helped to get the two of them towards his partner’s motorcycle. They stumbled towards it, Akira stopping at the sight of the bike crunching into the ground. Ryuji brought his eyes towards the same sight and shook his head. “Please don’t tell me it’s--”

Before he could finish his thought, the motorcycle was ripped from the ground, and flung towards the entrance of the cemetery.

“OH COME ON!” Ryuji hollered, while Akira looked towards the battle he just created. The three spirits he had summoned were going after the poltergeists, one of them finally making contact with a poltergeist and sending the pair into a burning mixture of smoke and sparks. There was a high pitched scream that came from the burning of the pair of supernatural beings, Akira bringing a hand up to cover his ear from how loud it became. In a bright flash of light, the pair dispersed into smoke the closest surroundings being whipped outwards like a small explosion had gone off. Akira knew they couldn’t stick around with how big the one poltergeist was, so he turned away from it, tugging Ryuji with him as well. “My fucking bike! You got my leg and my bike!!”

Akira ignored the upset wails from Ryuji and focused on dragging them away from the soon to be explosion. He readjusted his hand from under Ryuji’s arm to grabbing hold on the belt around his waist and quickened their pace.

Another high pitched scream sounded from behind them, the waves from that explosion managed to push a gust of wind towards Ryuji and Akira, causing them to almost run to keep from falling forward. Akira already knew that left the strongest poltergeist remaining, the sound of the metal crunching objects still moving behind them.

After the last wave, Ryuji had effectively shut up on complaining and started to focus on making his hops sync with Akira’s steps to get them out faster. He didn’t need to see what was happening when he could feel something like that. “Shit, shit, shit.” He mouthed under his breath, while Akira began to basically carry him.

The sound of the crunching metal dropped suddenly from the air, creating a large scraping noise as it hit the ground. At that point, Akira gave up on being a crutch for Ryuji and stopped to grab him from his waist and carry him out of there. As soon as the blonde’s foot was off the ground, Akira started running, the screaming sound from the last poltergeist piercing his ear drums. It was so loud, it felt like it made his vision shake, almost losing his footing.

Ryuji looked over Akira’s shoulder, mouth dropping as he watched the earth around the metal contraption begin to crack. His hands immediately went around Akira’s neck, gripping onto his gray hoodie tightly. The cracking earth suddenly exploded upward, a wave of it making it’s way towards them. “Oh fuuuuck.” He whined, probably to no help to Akira at all.

Akira felt the earth under them start to rumble, like each step he took was directly on the edge of impact from the explosion. He tried to go faster, but finally the pressure from the explosion caught up to them and knocked them off the ground, getting flung forward like a sack of flour. Ryuji was flung further than Akira, his body rolling through the grass before he finally tumbled to a stop. Akira had tumbled a few times before catching himself and keeping his skull from smacking straight into a headstone.

Ryuji let out a cough of pain, groaning as he tried to sit upright. He gave up, stretching his arms out instead and rolling onto his back. “Goddammit…”

Akira took in a deep breath, pushing himself up and crawling the short distance to his blond friend. He hovered over him to make sure he was okay, Ryuji staring up at him and panting. Akira finally plopped down, patting Ryuji on the chest. “You’re okay.” He heaved.

“No I’m not.” Ryuji replied. “I just lost my leg __and__ my bike…”

Akira was taking in deep breaths, turning towards the after math. The entrance of the cemetery was completely destroyed, Ryuji’s bike crunched up like it was a piece of aluminum foil laying in the crater the last poltergeist had created. He was pretty sure the front wheel to it was actually a few headstones away from them, but he wasn’t going to point that out.

Instead, Akira turned back towards Ryuji, the two locking eyes with that kind of understanding that they had. Akira leaned down and planted a lazy peck to Ryuji’s lips before rolling himself onto his back beside him. “We’re okay.” He commented with a huff. “Didn’t die.”

“How the fuck did dropping off a package turn into this…?” The blond questioned with an exhausted whine. His entire body hurt, his shoulder taking the cake for being the most painful part on him. All he wanted to do was just lay there, maybe even fall asleep with how quickly exhaustion had kicked in.

Akira didn’t let that happen though. He picked himself up off the floor, his body aching in protest as he did so. He turned to Ryuji, letting out a huff and extending an arm down towards him. “C’mon.. We need to get out of here before anyone sees this mess.”

Ryuji stared blankly at the hand extended to him, trying to get his brain to send the communication to the rest of his body to get up. He slowly took Akira’s hold, wincing when he disrupted his shoulder. Akira looped his arm over his shoulders to help Ryuji balance himself and the two started making their way back towards the entrance, both moving at a snail’s pace.

 

* * *

 

It took them close to three hours to get back home, their home being an old but somehow still functioning motel. When they stepped through the lobby doors, the two were greeted with a top-notch customer service voice. “Welcome! Are you here for a---” The tone dropped immediately, replaced instead with a shrill squeak. “Oh my god what the hell happened to you two!?”

Akira and Ryuji wobbled their way towards the 90’s themed couch near the front desk and collapsed backwards onto it. The boy that greeted them from the desk disappeared from behind it, popping out from a side door a minute later. He rushed to their side, taking in all the scrapped skin and blossoming bruises on their bodies.

“Same old, Same old.” Akira sighed, letting his head fall back on to the top of the couch.

“Where is your __leg?”__  The boy questioned, staring down at Ryuji’s missing prosthetic.

“Ghost wanted it super bad….Let ‘em have it.” He mumbled, his head falling against Akira’s shoulder. “Took my bike too.”

“What?! What kind of ghost did you two run into!?” He squeaked. “You’d have to be dealing with a level 4 case at least for a ghost to be able to handle a whole freakin’ motorcycle!”

“Mishima.” Akira called, his voice cutting into what was about to be a signature Mishima-mother-hen-ramble. The boy stopped completely, large eyes turning to stare at Akira in response. “Water?”

Mishima quickly moved towards the water cooler, grabbing a pair of styrofoam cups and filling them up for the beat up pair on the couch. He returned and passed them off, watching as the two chugged down the bit that he gave them.

Both handed the empty cups back to him, and as much as he wanted to roll his eyes at them, he held back. Taking the cups and stacking them together, he pulled up a chair from the left of the couch and took a seat.

Akira and Ryuji looked like they were going to fall asleep right then and there, but Mishima refused to let that happen. “Did you guys at least get that package dropped off like I asked?”

“ ‘Course we did, dude.” Ryuji snapped. “We didn’t bring it back, now did we?”

“Actually…” Akira started, eyes staring up at the ceiling. “I have a question about that.” Mishima brought his attention to the dark haired man, concerned about what he might ask. Akira pulled his head up, using his hand to rub out a few knots in his neck. “Seemed almost immediately after dropping off that package that those poltergeists showed up.. Who ordered that delivery?”

Mishima blinked, eyes going towards the side in thought. “It didn’t seem like anyone special, they just asked for some moldavite to help them through some things.”

Ryuji perked up to this, lifting his head from Akira’s shoulder with a jolt. “They asked for moldavite? You cleaned that shit, right?”

“Of course I did!” Mishima countered. “You really think I would send you guys off with negative-charged crystals?”

“Dude, sometimes I wonder.” Ryuji responded, earning an offended gasp from Mishima.

Akira’s brows scrunched together in thought, not that anyone could see that with how his hair hung over his eyes. “But then where did those poltergeists come from then….?” He mused out loud, Mishima’s eyes blinking rapidly at him.

“Do…Do you really think I wouldn’t have cleansed them properly?” His voice was edging on the side of hurt at this point, but Akira shook his head.

“No, but that doesn’t mean someone couldn’t have charged them with negative energy after we dropped them off.”

“But why would the poltergeists come after you two if you already got rid of the stones?” Mishima questioned, putting a hole in Akira’s thought process.

Ryuji stared between the two boys, not following their train of thought. He let out a sigh and rubbed at his shoulder, wincing as he did so. “Doesn’t matter now anymore, does it? Tell ya what, definitely wasn’t worth the spare fuckin’ change we got for that damn delivery.”

Akira nodded in agreement, easily dismissing the topic they were previously on. He was tired, all he wanted to do was get into a room and pass out. Blinking, he turned towards Mishima again. “Any more requests received?”

“...Yeah, I got one.” He stood up from the chair and moved back towards the front desk, reaching over it and pulling out a thick book that at first glance looked like a sign in sheet for the motel itself. Mishima walked back towards the pair, flipping towards the center. He seemed hesitant as his eyes skimmed over the details.

Ryuji noticed the worry on his face, quickly calling him out on it. “What is it? Something bad?”

“Uh, yeah.” Mishima mouthed, sitting down in his seat with a sigh. “Don’t…take this one until you guys are at your best, okay?”

“That bad?” Ryuji questioned, sharing a look with Akira.

“It’s a Wendigo.” Mishima disclosed. He stared at Akira and Ryuji like they weren’t going to take him seriously, but the pair both had stoic expressions. Mishima swallowed thickly, turning down to look at the scribbled details he took down from the initial phone call. “I--I mean, it’s not… guaranteed that’s what it is but from what the woman described.. I highly doubt it’s anything else.”

Akira held his hand out to take the book from Mishima, looking over the notes scribbled out. It definitely fit the profile for a Wendigo and that immediately concerned him. “This was spotted that close to town?” He questioned.

Mishima nodded, while Ryuji leaned across Akira to look over the information as well. “Apparently it’s not the first time this woman’s spotted it. She sounded confident that it was only one, but she mentioned there’s been screams every so often that started a couple months ago.”

“There’s been a Wendigo near us for that fuckin’ long and we’re just now hearin’ bout it?!” Ryuji barked.

Akira continued to stare at the words in Mishima’s handwriting, like he could gather more clues from staring at it longer. There was definitely something wrong with that. There’s no way a Wendigo would be able to survive that long with out them finding out about it. Definitely not on it’s own at least. He closed the book, passing it back to Mishima, and turning to look at Ryuji. “How soon do you think you’ll be ready for this?”

“As soon as you are.” Ryuji answered with a grin.

Mishima shook his head, immediately protesting their thought process. “No, no, no!” He started. “I demand at least a 24 hour recovery from you two before you do this!” His tone had shot up to his mother mode, causing Ryuji and Akira to share a look with each other. “I mean it! If that Wendigo doesn’t kill you, I will.”

Ryuji let out a loud groan, waving off his friend’s worry. “Alright, alright. I could probably sleep that long after the day we had.”

“Speaking of.” Akira added. “We should sleep.”

“You should take care of the cuts you guys have first.” Mishima added, knowing that if they did pay any attention to their cuts tonight, it’d be half-assed.

Akira hummed in response, trying to summon the strength to pull himself up from his spot while his body protested the movement. He reached down for Ryuji as well, the blonde grabbing hold of his hand and pulling himself upright. Ryuji strung his arm across Akira’s shoulders again, the two a little too used to doing this.

Mishima let out a sigh, standing from his spot as well and replacing the chair in it’s normal home to the side of the couch. He left them to make their way to their room, returning back to his place behind the front desk.

Akira’s body was protesting with each movement he made, that fall from the blast really doing its damage to him. He had to wonder how Ryuji felt, noticing that he’d been grabbing for his shoulder a lot since it happened. It didn’t help that he was missing his prosthetic now. They wouldn’t be able to take care of that Wendigo until they got a replacement for him, so at least Mishima was going to get his demands for them in. Maybe he could spend tomorrow looking for more information on the case while Ryuji rested up.

“You’re thinkin’ too hard.” Ryuji mumbled, struggling to keep up with Akira’s movements. His hop had slowly morphed into a weak limp, basically dragging his good foot along the ground at this point. Akira couldn’t say he blamed him, he had to of been exhausted from the walk home.

“Between the two of us, someone has to.” Akira teased, earning a hard glare from the blonde hanging off of him. They made it to their door, Akira letting the blonde get the lock for them with his free hand and then pulling them both inside.

He brought Ryuji to the bed, trying to not just drop him onto it. He didn’t seem to care though, basically throwing himself into the bed with a satisfied groan. As much as Akira wanted to do the same, he knew he should listen to what Mishima told them and at least try to keep from getting any infections. “Are you going to shower?”

Ryuji laughed at the question. “Hell no, I wouldn’t be able to get out.”

Akira let out the faintest huff of a laugh, wanting to make a comment on that but deciding against it. He didn’t let himself sit down, knowing if he did he wouldn’t get back up again. Instead, he headed towards the bathroom, pulling out a small bucket and clean wash rag and then some peroxide. He brought the bucket to the sink, turning the water on and letting it run to a warm temperature. He found himself staring blankly at the water as it ran in a straight stream into the sink. Akira was exhausted to say the least, his brain having already checked out for the day. He didn’t realize how long he’d been letting the water run until steam drifted up towards his face, drifting across his skin in a surprisingly soothing manner.

He brought his focus back to the sink, checking the temperature and then letting the bucket fill up a little less than half way. Akira turned off the sink, sighing as he brought the items he gathered back out towards Ryuji.

Akira set the bucket on the nightstand and then turned to look at Ryuji. His eyes were closed, face resting in a relaxed manner. His chest was rising and falling so softly, Akira wondered how deep into sleep he had fallen.

Taking his gaze away from the man’s features, he started looking at the various scrapes and bruises he had forming on his skin. His right side of his body had deep skid marks along his arm and a bit on his leg. Akira assumed that must’ve been the part he landed on when they were blasted away from the explosion. He looked up to Ryuji’s shoulder, noticing a nice bruise forming towards the backside of it. The top of his shoulder had a much thicker scrape into it, but Akira wasn’t sure how it happened. Probably when the poltergeist went for his prosthetic he had to assume.

Taking in a breath, Akira turned the bottle of peroxide over on the washcloth and brought it towards the deep scrapes, softtly patting into the cuts. Regardless of how gentle he was, Ryuji’s eyes snapped open, jolting to the stinging sensation the peroxide caused. “---hhhhss!!” He winced, instinctively pulling away from the rag.

Akira jerked away from Ryuji, thinking about apologizing but having too much fun with it to do so .

“Dude what the hell!?” Ryuji groaned. “Warn a guy first, damn.”

“You were sleeping though.” Akira smiled. “Now hold still.” He moved to bring the rag back to Ryuji’s cuts, the blond trying to push himself into the bed to get away. Ryuji ended up biting his lip to keep from flinching, but now that he was prepared for the sensation it wasn’t nearly as bad.

It took a while to disinfect all the cuts mostly because of how slow Akira was moving. He should be getting bandages for his partner but it just sounded like too much work at the moment. He was having a hard enough time convincing himself to still take a shower after this. It seemed like his thoughts were struggling to focus on cleaning up Ryuji, his mind zoning out the second he let it.

Ryuji’s hand reached for Akira’s wrist, pulling him from thought. “Hey, just go to bed man.” He mumbled, his voice thick with the desire to sleep. “You’re a lot less cut up than I am, worry about it tomorrow.”

Akira stared down at him, his mind already agreeing with him. All he really needed was one shitty reason not to shower and Ryuji gave him just that. When Akira didn’t say anything, Ryuji tugged a little, wordlessly asking him to get into bed already. He really didn’t need any other convincing than that.

Akira sat still on the edge of the bed for a long moment, Ryuji cracking an eye open to watch him. He worried that Akira might be pushing himself too hard, but that quickly left him when the man flopped backwards across Ryuji’s legs. “What the hell, there’s a whole bed here!” He laughed, trying to pull his leg out from under Akira to kick him to the side.

“Push me.” Akira demanded, his body completely limp.

Ryuji tried for only a second to move his body but immediately gave up. “Forget it, I don’t have the energy.” He laid back into his spot, realizing that it felt kind of nice to have a heavy weight across him. He just didn’t believe it was possible for Akira to be comfortable like that. “Don’t complain to me when your back hurts tomorrow.”

“Ehh,” Akira groaned, his body so tired that it was actually finding the point of Ryuji’s knee comfortable to lay across. He thought about not moving, but waking up with a sore back because of something dumb like that wasn’t him. With a lack of energy, Akira flopped himself over to the open side of the bed, freeing Ryuji’s legs. The blond immediately rolled over onto his side, facing where Akira laid. He dropped his hand down, gently resting on Akira’s hip--a habit he’d always done when the two were in bed together.

Akira relaxed completely to the touch, placing his hand over Ryuji’s and letting his eyes drift close. Maybe tomorrow the two of them could just stay in bed all day and honestly rest.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ngl this chapter is pretty boring. Had to cover a few things before diving right into the next scene, cause the next chapter I plan on being pretty long so I apologize. Thanks for reading!

Ryuji hated losing his prosthetic for multiple reasons. He hated having to wobble through the town with crutches and dealing with all the same faces giving him all the same expressions. He hated how he had to tie off his pant leg so that the cloth didn’t dangle against the cement. He hated how un-fucking-comfortable the crutches were. He hated making his way into town and seeking out the one person that handled his replacement pieces. He _especially_ hated that the price for his new prosthetic seemed to change with the mood of the supplier.

Already sulking as he walked through the door, Ryuji’s eyes went straight for the counter to spot the man he would have loved to avoid. They immediately made eye contact and the tall male’s face fell in what could only be described as extreme disappointment. Nothing had been said yet but the man's expression had pretty much barked an explanation from the blonde.

“I got into an accident.” Ryuji started.

“It’s been __two__  weeks, Ryuji.”

“Has it? Felt like longer.” The blonde stepped towards the counter, the man sitting there having dropped the magazine he was reading.

“What the fuck are you doing to my prosthetics?”

“I...” Ryuji trailed off, thinking back to the whole issue with the poltergeists and wondering how to vaguely summarize that. There wasn't really a good way to explain that he got dragged through the dirt by nothing and then almost got caught in an explosion from technically nothing as well.  “Crashed my bike.”

The man stared up at Ryuji with a look that was calling him out on his bullshit. He wasn’t the kind of guy to ask questions, but even Ryuji knew it was getting too suspicious to have lost a prosthetic so often in such a short period of time. It sucked he didn’t have Akira here with him to smooth talk through this either. He was always much better with Iwai than Ryuji was.

Ryuji turned his eyes away from the pair on him. He looked down at the glass case that made up the counter, staring at all the differently designed knives and weapons. Akira often placed a lot of special orders through this guy, which is how Ryuji ended up coming to get his prosthetics from him. He wasn't sure where he learned to craft such things but he did a really good job from what Ryuji had experienced. His last leg had been his favorite so far, and he wished Iwai could understand that he was equally upset over loosing it as Iwai had to of been. 

A hand smacked down on the counter as Iwai stood from his spot with a grunt. He kept his eyes on the blond until he couldn’t, turning his back to him and stepping in the storage room. Ryuji watched him disappear, partially worried for what he was going to do. The previous time he was here, Iwai had stepped in the back and never returned. When Akira and Ryuji thought he was going to retrieve something, they soon found out he just walked away from them. (Akira ended up just walking into the back, but Ryuji would be found dead before doing that.)

Ryuji readjusted the crutch under his arm, really wishing that Akira had come with him this time. He silently cursed Mishima for stealing his partner from him for mindless tasks that needed to be done at the motel and too many errands to keep Akira busy. Mishima could’ve handled it on his own, he basically runs the entire motel by himself anyway. (Aside from the only other employee that does some cleaning every now and then.)

The back door opened again, bringing Ryuji’s hazel eyes up from where he had been staring. Iwai stepped towards the counter, setting a wooden prosthetic down. Ryuji blinked at it, scrunching his eyebrows together in confusion. “$1,200.”

“ _ _What?!”__  Ryuji sputtered. “For a piece of--”

“-Consider it a safety deposit. Maybe then next time you won’t be so easy to lose it.” Iwai's voice was threatening, making Ryuji withdraw just enough to come to a slight calm. 

Ryuji examined the wooden prosthetic in front of him, liking it less and less the more he stared. “I can’t do anything I need to with this thing.”

“You shouldn’t be doing anything other than __walking.__ ” Iwai all but ordered. “Maybe jogging, but that’s it.”

Ryuji rolled his eyes, shaking his head and turning his attention to the side. This was the worst time for Akira to not be here with him. He would’ve somehow managed to get Iwai to shut up and charge him __half__  of what he was asking for. There was silence between them, Ryuji’s mood dropping into a bitter territory. He brought his hand to the prosthetic, going to pull it off the counter. He was stopped by a heavy hand slapping down on it. Of course Iwai would want his money first. “Akira’ll get the money next time--”

“--Akira’s dragging you into his business again, ain’t he?”

Ryuji blinked, thrown off by the question. It took him a second to process what he said. “His business?” He repeated. Iwai kept his gaze on Ryuji, trying to squeeze an answer out of him from his stare alone. “He hasn’t dragged me into anything.”

“Losing your leg wasn’t enough to get you to back off?” Iwai threw at him.

Ryuji narrowed his eyes at Iwai, tightening his grip on the prosthetic. “You should be the one backin’ off. We’re basically what’s keepin’ you in business.”

The two held each other's stare, neither backing down from their views. Iwai was quiet, letting out a grunt and then releasing his hold off the wooden prosthetic. He reached over to the side and pulled up a slip of paper along with a pen. Ryuji figured it was a receipt of sorts, not caring to pay attention to it. “Tell Akira to contact me when he’s free next.” Iwai commented, jotting down things on the slip he pulled out. Ryuji took a glance, seeing what looked like measurements, but he ignored it. He finally removed the prosthetic off the counter and moved to a seat to attach it to him.

The wooden prosthetic didn’t fit nearly as well as the one he had previously. This one couldn’t even really bend at the knee, and it seemed an inch or two too short. It was like having an obnoxiously large pirate peg in the shape of a leg. “$1,200 for this thing…” Ryuji scoffed to himself. It was probably worth 200 at most. He knocked on the part that connected to the end of his limb, testing to make sure it was attached correctly. Ryuji took his time standing up, trying to get used to the piece but immediately hating it. He closed his eyes and reminded himself it was better than wobbling around on crutches.

He picked up his crutches and then turned towards the door, Iwai calling out to him before he fully stepped out. “Come back in a couple a’ weeks.” Ryuji waved a hand at him and grunted a goodbye, letting him know he had heard his words.

* * *

 

 

Akira didn’t like trench coats, but even he could admit that they were convenient. Mishima was the one who recommended them to him, saying it’d be useful with all the things he needed to carry. Akira avoided it for a while and even laughed when Mishima found an old brown one that was way too big for him and offered it to him. He had to apologize to the poor kid afterwards, not actually having meant to almost literally laugh in his face. He decided carrying a bag was more his thing, and while Mishima was calling out every which way that could go wrong from carrying a bag, Akira ignored it. ("You could lose it!", "You have to dig in the entire thing for such small items!" "Its bad for your shoulders.") Trench coats either drew in too much attention or made him look suspicious as fuck and not to mention--they didn’t look good on him.

Except for this one. This one looked too good on him. It was actually feeding his ego to an unsafe degree the more he twisted and turned to see how he looked in it. The black leather was snug against his limbs, the cuffs rolled back along his wrists. It looked like something from the Victorian era and damn. It looked good.

He was really about to buy this thing, wasn’t he? Akira patted it down, checking through all the pockets it had and how deep each one was, it would fit everything he needed to and right within arms reach---

Why hadn’t he listened to Mishima sooner? He probably would have if he knew a trench coat could make a person look so good. Akira was sold on it, peeling it off his arms and heading towards the registers with it. The teen sitting behind the counter was tapping away on their phone, stepping towards the register itself without tearing their eyes off the device.

They almost managed to complete the whole transaction without putting their phone down, but eventually had to bag the item for him and passed it off with a mumbled ‘have a nice day.’ Akira couldn’t care less, taking the new item that was sure to please Mishima and get some kind of reaction out of Ryuji. What that would be, he didn’t know. Probably something containing the word “Dude,” he guessed.

Speaking of the blonde, he was probably heading back from Iwai’s shop by now. It might have been a good idea to meet up with him. Akira passed his new purchase to his free hand, shrugging the bag he had over his shoulder down so he could access it. He dug through it before his hand reached exactly what he was looking for. He pulled a thick and small velvet covered book out. The cover of it was checkered with different shades of dark blue, the binding an almost black color. There was details engraved on the front, words in Latin that Akira didn’t fully understand spread across it.

Tucking his bag back into place on his shoulder, he started to flip through some of it, looking to find words that stuck out to him. The worn out binding on the book caused the pages to flip towards the back, the brown fluid that once soaked a quarter of the book now dried and staining the sides and a few pages in particular.

Akira hummed as he starred at the stained pages, a familiar feeling of guilt twisting a knot in his stomach. He had gotten over seeing Ryuji’s blood on the pages, but it didn’t make him forget how it had gotten there. Or how he had obtained whatever ability he had within those same moments. He tried to wash it off before, then tried to get rid of the book itself but it always found a way back to him no matter what he did. Akira wondered if he'd been cursed by something that night, but eventually decided to make do with it. So far, this book had turned out to be more of a blessing than a curse. 

Akira brought a finger to the pages and flipped towards the front. He hadn’t studied Latin a single day in his life, but certain words popped out at him with a fluent understanding of what it meant and how to cast the spell the word came from. He didn’t understand it, and neither did Mishima or Ryuji so he just had to deal with whatever it was.

His dark eyes scanned over the spell he was most familiar with. It was one he would cast any time he set out with Ryuji, too worried that there’d be a moment where he couldn’t help the man from a situation he put him in. That, and Ryuji just had a knack for getting himself into trouble and Akira really didn’t have the time to worry about him in those moments.

He gave the protection spell one last look before closing the book and depositing it back into his bag. His purchases for the day shuffled together as he walked, dismissing any worries he had and focusing his mind on the next job the two had to do.

Killing a Wendigo.

An extremely difficult task to do regardless of the state of the Wendigo. When Akira started looking into it, he immediately felt stress build up in his gut. He had gotten ahead of himself though, the very first thing the two had to do was confirm that this was what they were assuming it to be. If it was, then Akira could start formulating a plan on how to kill it.

Taking in a deep breath, he decided he’d focus on meeting up with his crippled partner and discuss their plan together.

* * *

 

 “He gave you a peg leg.”

“It’s not a peg leg.”

“You look like a pirate.”

The comment pulled a loud groan from Ryuji, sending a hard glare at Akira as the taller man tried to act like he wasn’t doing anything wrong. “I wouldn’t be having this issue if that damn fucking ghost didn’t steal my leg!”

“And your bike.” Akira added on with the faintest chuckle.

“And my bike!” Ryuji repeated. His anger was starting to come back to him when he thought about what happened to the motorcycle he used to drive. He hated so much that he had been reduced to using crutches to get around.

Akira made sure to keep his pace in check with Ryuji as they headed back towards the motel. He wanted to poke fun at the way his visit with Iwai had gone, but Iwai couldn’t have picked a worse time to punish Ryuji for ruining his craftsmanship. He was hoping that Iwai could’ve started working on a replacement similar to the last prosthetic Ryuji had. He’d gotten so good on it that Akira temporarily forgot he was operating a vehicle with one leg. (Which, now that he was thinking about it, it was rather impressive on the blonde's part for only having that leg for less than a month.)

Ryuji wobbled for a second, halting his walk to regain balance and mumbling to himself about what a piece of crap the replacement had been. Akira couldn’t help but feel like this was a way for Iwai to indirectly punish him as well. He was definitely going to have to pay the man a visit and see what he could do to take back whatever offense he’d caused him. That would probably be knocked out of the way once Akira got around to picking up the weapons order he put in.

“What’s that?” Ryuji questioned, nodding towards the plastic bag Akira was holding.

“Stopped by Takemi’s to stock up on some things.” He kept his gaze forward, catching a couple people they passed staring at Ryuji. The blond either didn’t notice or learned not to care. “Should have plenty of salt this time around now.”

“That big black thing is a bag of salt?” Ryuji poked his head behind Akira’s back, like he could peek into the bag by doing so. He stumbled for a second, but quickly regained his balance before his friend could act.

Akira waited to make sure Ryuji was good before responding. “That’s a surprise.”

“Is it a replacement motorcycle?”

Akira let out a soft chuckle. “No. It’s something for me.”

That caught Ryuji’s attention, raising a brow at him. “Oh? Did ya cave and buy some lacey garments?”

“I thought we agreed you would be the one in lingerie?” Akira replied, earning a laugh from Ryuji.

“No fucking way man.” He shook his head, trying to erase the idea from his mind. Akira had the pretty face, he would definitely be the one in lingerie if either of them had to wear it. “So if it’s not lingerie, what is it?”

“It’s not for the bedroom, Ryuji.”

“Then how’s it a surprise for me?”

Akira rolled his eyes with a smile, making a point to shrug and not put any ideas into the blonde’s head. Ryuji seemed like he wanted to keep the topic going, but if Akira dropped something, it was hard to keep anything going after that point. Instead the two made their way back to the shabby motel Mishima was running, Ryuji’s walk improving with each step.

The pair turned a corner, now almost within sight of the motel. A silence had fallen between the two of them, but it was pleasant. It was hard for anything to get awkward between them at this point in their relationship. Akira was generally a quiet person, usually taking in his surroundings or contemplating on future actions. Right now it was the later of the two. “I think I’m going to scope the place out tonight.” Akira stated, his voice steady.

Ryuji nodded, like they were discussing what they wanted for dinner. “Cool, I can help take--”

“--Just me tonight, Ryuji.” Akira cut him off. Ryuji turned to face Akira that time, giving him a look like he had heard him incorrectly. Akira decided to repeat himself. “I want to scope it out alone.”

“What?” Ryuji questioned, his expression ranging from confused to offended with a single blink. Akira could already tell that he was starting to come to conclusions that had nothing to do with his decision. “Why? You’ve never wanted to go alone before.”

“We’ve also never had to deal with a Wendigo before.”

“And you don’t think I can handle it?” Ryuji barked.

“I don’t.” Akira replied, his voice unwavering. He caught Ryuji before he opened his mouth to say exactly what he didn’t want him to say. “And it’s not because of your leg either.” Ryuji’s lips stopped the words that were going to come out, his gaze dropping to the side. “If anything goes south, I’ve got the ability to get out of there the instant I want to. You don’t.”

“Yeah.” The word was hardly offensive at all, but Akira could recognize what that tone in his voice meant. It was like a kid being promised to go somewhere only for that promise to be pushed off for another day that wouldn't come. He let out a sigh, stopping and reaching a hand out to grab Ryuji’s wrist. Ryuji looked like he was going to snap it away, but relaxed and halted his walk. His eyes were focused on the ground, Akira calling out his name to grab his attention.

“Ryuji.” Hazel eyes pulled up to meet his, an unsure look swirling in the depths of them. “Trust me.”

The blonde was quiet, staring into Akira’s eyes with a look that resembled a kicked puppy. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Akira, that wouldn’t ever be the case. He was more concerned that this was showing Akira’s distrust in __him__  as his right hand man. He'd always been at Akira's side and the idea of the man not wanting him there for once was planting a pit of self-doubt in his stomach. He worried Akira wasn't going to see him as someone fit to have working on their cases together. Akira gave a gentle squeeze to Ryuji’s wrist, finally pulling a response out of him.

Ryuji let out a sigh and dropped his head, turning forward. “Fine…” He exhaled. Akira smiled at him, even though the blonde completely missed it. They started their walk again, heading up the path that led to the motel. “But you know I’ll be ready the second you need me.”

“Sure, if Mishima will let you.”

 

 


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I changed the tags in here to graphic depictions of violence after writing out a scene and realizing that it's going to be a lot worse later on when we get around to that part, so just an fyi.

Akira didn’t know what to expect when he traveled to the location where their current request had come from. He wasn’t sure where to start, so the first thing he did was talk to the woman who put in the request, trying to learn a little more than what information Mishima had been able to jot down.

  
The woman informed him that the screams and voices she often heard came from the yard next to hers. The area she lived in was just past the town, a few houses littering the field that met with the woods beyond them. They were built like farm houses, most having a large yard and a shed placed somewhere towards the back. A couple trees were scattered in the yards, showing how far out the woods had once stretched before homes had been built. Wind chimes sang together with any rush of wind that passed through, creating an unsettling feeling that Akira tried to pay no mind to. Ragged wooden railings separated each yard from one another, grass growing around the wood like it was trying to uproot it from its place.

  
Needless to say, Akira couldn’t have asked for a worse battlefield for a Wendigo. It had access to the woods should it feel the need to escape, but it also had access to the few families that lived out here and -if it went beyond that- the town as well. It’d be an attack on the town that would make a werewolf pale. It was already shaping up to be a heavy battle. Mishima thought to rank this request at a 6 but Akira was slowly adding things up to possibly an 8, assuming what he had to deal with was actually a Wendigo.

  
Akira took in a deep breath, a prickling sensation running through him to alert him of the energies nearby. He couldn’t see the source, but he could feel something spiritually strong closer than he would’ve liked. Akira couldn’t pinpoint from where, but it was definitely coming from the yard the woman directed him to. Maybe if he had encountered a Wendigo once before, he could perhaps tell if that was what he was up against. As it stood, the energy he was feeling was strong, but not something he had ever encountered before.

  
Akira had asked the woman if anyone lived there and she responded with a slow nod. “A family,” She had started. “A young man with his mother, and what I think is his grandfather.” Her eyes had moved past Akira’s frame to the yard next to hers. She had another thought that Akira patiently waited for. “But…” She started. “I haven’t seen the elder two in a very long time.” Her voice was sad, and that response put Akira even more on edge.

  
He thanked her with a nod and then made the decision to further scope the place out. Akira patted himself down, making sure that he had all he needed. He was finding the trench coat to be useful so far. It made for easier movements, and freed up his shoulders. He wouldn’t have thought that to be the cause for less mobility but it had been. Akira moved with stealth towards the woods that passed secrets through the wind and welcomed him with dark shadows. It worried him, to be so close to a large unknown forest, but it couldn’t be helped. He needed height.

  
He scaled up one of the trees that lingered on the edge of the woods and moved to find a place with a view towards most of the openings in the house and shed that took up the plot of land. Akira lowered himself to lay flat against a tree branch, ignoring the whispers of the wind as his eyes focused on finding any hint of movement from the land in front of him.

  
Something didn’t feel right to him. As he stared at the dark shed in the back, his gut was telling him to really think this over. What would a Wendigo be doing keeping itself to the same location? This woman reported sounds of screaming, but to Akira’s knowledge, there hadn’t been enough deaths to pose concern with the town. All it would take was killing the wrong person and everyone that lived within a 50-mile radius of this place would be up in arms about it.

  
Then there was also the fact of how a Wendigo got here as well. Wendigos came from humans--humans that were so desperate for food, they turned to cannibalistic natures to stay alive. How could someone this close to a town feel they were that desperate for food? It’d make more sense to turn to stealing than to eating human flesh.

  
The only logical conclusion Akira could come up with was possibly getting lost in the woods he lingered outside of. Maybe it was a pair that had gotten lost, and before they were able to emerge into the fields, one of them had let the dark instincts consume them. Perhaps the Wendigo came from the woods and had somehow ended up stuck somewhere in this yard.

  
Akira narrowed his eyes, pushing his thoughts to the back of his head. His gaze snapped to the back door of the house, the orange hue of a light flicking on and grabbing his attention. If he was being honest, he didn’t expect to see anything on his first scope of the place. He had actually hoped he didn’t see anything, least he should have to get involved.

  
There was the silhouette from someone at the back door, Akira holding his breath as he refused to pull his eyes away. There was an alarm going off in his head, screaming at him that something was wrong. He continued to watch as the shadow bent out of sight and then returned back to the door. With a creaking noise, it was pulled open. Akira’s dark eyes took in every detail it could about the man stepping through the back door. He had long dark hair that framed his face, his body was tall and slender, and his skin was incredibly pale. He was carrying something in his hands, a package that was wrapped in brown paper and tied together with twine. Akira blinked, finding the wrapping to be familiar to the way the butcher in town wrapped his products.

  
The man stepped down the porch steps, moving through the grass and towards the shed. Akira felt a bit of spiritual energy coming from this stranger, but it wasn’t the source of what he was guessing to be the Wendigo. He wondered if it could’ve just been that this guy had the ability to see ghosts. Akira dismissed the thought, watching in silence as the man reached the front doors to the shed. It was only then that Akira noticed the chain that was wrapped between the handles, keeping the doors locked shut with a heavy padlock.

  
The man brought a pair of hands to the lock and a voice that Akira shouldn’t have been able to hear had reached him. It was a woman’s voice, strained and desperate. “Stay away!” The words sent a heavy chill down Akira’s spine, his right eye immediately recognizing the voice as something otherworldly. He held his breath, feeling the power he had within him start to make its own choices on what he should be doing. His right eye started to burn, an immediate sign to Akira that whatever abilities he had inherited were going to be calling the shots. He blinked, and suddenly the way the world looked to him had changed. The surroundings looked like they were dimmed out of focus, the things grabbing his attention were what Akira was guessing the spiritual energies to look like. The boy standing at the front of the shed had an almost white color surrounding him. It looked pure and innocent, like snow.

  
There were two other energies that Akira could see. They were both inside the shed barely inches apart from each other. If Akira didn’t know any better, he’d say the two were part of the same thing, but the powers coming from each one had him feeling dizzy. The largest one was a fiery red, twisted with strength and anger. It was much larger than the other two that Akira could see. The one beside it looked to have been attempting to trap the larger energy. It was a soft pink, like something that belonged on a flower.  
“Don’t open that door!” The woman’s voice yelled, stress lacing her worried tone. Akira stared in confusion when he pinpointed where the voice was coming from. It was from the pink energy, doing everything in its power to make sure the boy outside stayed away.

  
Akira looked at the pale boy as his hand lingered on the pad lock. His lips moved but Akira couldn’t hear what he said. His movements looked slow and disheartened, hand dropping from the lock and head leaning towards the ground. He looked heartbroken, but Akira couldn’t figure out why. The white energy around him shrunk, lingering around the outside of his body as his hands gripped onto the package he held. His lips were moving again, Akira straining to try and read them but that was an ability he didn’t have.  
Then—another voice called out, sounding exactly like the woman who had spoken before. “I need to eat, Yusuke! Don’t you care that I’m starving?”

  
Akira’s eyes jumped back towards the shed, a rush of fear crashing over his body after hearing that voice. It wasn’t from the same woman that originally spoke. It wasn’t as fearful or frantic, but angry and impatient. The boy—Yusuke apparently—couldn’t tell the difference. Akira could see him flinch from where he hid. He closed his eyes, feeling the burn in his right side disappear and return his vision back to normal. He silently reached a hand into his coat, pulling the dark blue covered book from his pocket and letting it fall open. Akira hovered a hand over the pages, his eye starting to burn again as the pages began to flip over like a rush of wind was going through the spells. “C’mon, give me something to listen better—“ He complained to himself, not understanding any of the words that were flipping past him.

  
Finally, the pages slowed to a stop. A spell Akira hadn’t cast before was laid out in front of him, his right eye reading the Latin words like it was his first language. He felt something inside him take control momentarily, his mouth reciting the lines and quietly bringing the book to a close. When the control came back to his body, Akira locked his jaw as a pain jolted through his ears. They started to ring, growing louder with each added sound that he began picking up on.

  
It took a moment, but he eventually brought his entire focus to the boy lingering outside the shed. His lips weren’t moving now, his eyes staring forward at the wood with what Akira would describe as a look of shock.

  
“Yusuke!!” The yell came from that red energy, Yusuke dropping down to his knees in a hurry. He started to untie the package he brought with him, nimble fingers working the twine out of its tight hold.

  
“I couldn’t bring as much as before,” Yusuke started, his voice deep and melancholic. Akira’s brows creased in confusion, trying to see what was in the package the man brought. “Meats gotten too expensive for me to afford, perhaps next time I shall bring you—“

  
“Give it!” The woman screamed, completely cutting Yusuke off. His movements froze, staring at the wooden door for a moment, before going back to unwrapping the package. Akira watched as he pulled out a raw slab of meat from the package, and pressed a forearm against the right side of the door. It creaked open, just enough for him to place the meat down inside the barn. He brought his arm through the crack, Akira’s eyes widening as he did so. Yusuke lightly tossed the meat further into the barn and then quickly withdrew his hand. He sat at the doors, head angled towards the ground. “This isn’t enough.” The voice called out. “Your poor mother is starving in here Yusuke.”

  
“Then why won’t you come back inside with me?” Yusuke questioned, bringing his head up. “I don’t understand. Why are you locking yourself in here? Madarame hasn’t been home in so long, is that way?” He brought a pale hand to the door, pressing it flat against it. “Mother, it’s beginning to get too cold to keep this up. Why won’t you come back inside with me?” His voice sounded so hurt. “It’s too empty in that house now…”

  
Akira shook his head, breaking the spell he casted on himself. He saw and heard everything that he needed to, hands gripping tightly to the tree bark as he let it all sink in.  
There was a Wendigo in the shed. Something, or someone was keeping it pinned in there by some means that Akira didn’t know about, but the worst part yet—this Yusuke was unknowingly feeding it. The mother that the woman spoke of, the Wendigo was mimicking to get food. It made Akira wonder what that third spiritual energy was coming from and how it was holding back such a heartless creature.

  
Akira didn’t stick around any longer, dropping from the branch he was resting on and beginning to make his way back home to let the information he gathered sink in. At the very least, the Wendigo being trapped in the shed could be an advantage to him when he returned.

* * *

 

The door to the front of the motel opened with the ring of a bell, bringing both Ryuji and Mishima’s attention towards it. Mishima had a look of hope on his features, where Ryuji only appeared bored. The blond knew better than to expect any customers at this point in the night. Ryuji straightened his posture, stretching out his back as Akira stepped through into the lobby.

  
The blond raised a brow at him, noticing the crease on Akira’s forehead and wondering what was putting him in such thought. “How’d it go?” He questioned.

  
“It’s a Wendigo.” Akira put bluntly.

  
Ryuji seemed to gain interest while Mishima visibly deflated behind the counter. He must’ve been hoping that he had been wrong about his guess as much as Akira had. Mishima seemed to regret what he was going to ask before he had even asked. “So…” He hesitated. “What’d you find out?”

  
Akira let out a sigh, stepping up to the pair and turning to lean against the wall the counter connected to. He stared off at the other side of the room for a long moment before speaking again. “I don’t know where to start.”

  
“What happened? You’re not hurt, are you?” Ryuji questioned, starting to check Akira for any hidden wounds he wasn’t seeing.

  
“No, I’m fine.” Akira replied, swatting the blond away from further inspection. He brought a hand up to his right eye, a dull pain pulsing in it from having cast a new spell. “I don’t know what we’re dealing with here, but the Wendigo is trapped in the shed of the house with some other entity keeping it in there.”

  
“Are you for real?” Ryuji cackled. “This is gonna be a cake walk then!”

  
Any relief Mishima would’ve had for the pair in front of him completely vanished when Akira shook his head. “What else is there?” He questioned.

  
“A guy.” Akira started, rolling out the kinks in his neck. “Who has been feeding this Wendigo.”

  
“Feeding it!?” Mishima repeated. “W-what do you mean by that?!”

  
Ryuji’s face dropped as well, assuming that meant there was some next level fucked up shit happening involving dead bodies. Akira’s hand rubbed around his eye socket as he spoke. “The guy that lives there, he’s been buying meat and feeding it to the Wendigo.” He let his head fall back against the wall, his eyebrows perking up like he just thought of something. “Oh, and I failed to mention that the Wendigo’s mimicking his mom to get him to do that.”

  
“What the fuck,” Ryuji huffed, putting all of his weight onto his good leg. “He thinks it’s his mom?”

  
Akira nodded catching Mishima’s eyes on Ryuji’s newest prosthetic and knowing how concerned he was about it. He pulled his hand away from his eye and completely changed the subject, focusing solely on the blond. “How’s your shoulder feeling?”

  
Ryuji rolled the shoulder in question, like he was getting a diagnostic of it from the movement. “S’lright. Nothing that’s gonna slow me down.”

  
“And your peg?” Akira questioned with a smirk on his face.

  
“It’s fine.” Ryuji stated, obviously not going to back down regardless of how true it was. Akira didn’t question him though, knowing when to challenge his stubbornness.  
He pushed himself off the wall and then slapped a hand down on the counter, Mishima’s eyes going wide. “Let’s suit up then.”

  
Mishima let out a heavy sigh, shaking his head at the pair. Ryuji was already getting amped up, and Akira had that cocky look on his face every time the two of them were about to head out. Mishima had already prepared a checklist for this mission when he first received the request, but he still made a show of grabbing a scrap piece of paper and pencil to test the two on. “This is a Wendigo you’re going after so you’ve got to be prepared.” He started. “What’re you going to use against them?”

  
“Akira.” Ryuji commented like it was an obvious fact.

  
“Akira is not a weapon, Ryuji!” Mishima scolded, his patience for the blond low.

  
Akira chuckled at Ryuji, but answered his worried friend. “Silver and fire. I’ve already got a bit of a plan in the works.”

  
“And if that plan fails?” Mishima questioned.

  
“Improvise.” Ryuji shrugged. “Things tend to work out better that way in the end. Just look at what happened with the poltergeists.”

  
“I’m sure you two left that cemetery in perfect condition then.” Mishima replied, his voice thick with sarcasm. Both Ryuji and Akira made to act like they had no idea what he was talking about, the shortest of the three dropping his head in defeat. “It’s not that bad, is it? You know the Niijima sisters will kill me—“

  
“—We should get going.” Akira interrupted, tapping a hand against Ryuji’s shoulder and pushing him towards the exit. Ryuji nodded and hurried away with his partner, leaving Mishima calling after them to not ignore him.

  
“—Wait! Stop! Don’t forget to cut off its he—“

* * *

 

“D’ya think we shoulda heard Mishima out a bit before we left?”

  
“We wouldn’t have ever left if we did that.” Akira countered, wishing Ryuji would focus on paying attention instead of questioning how they left their friend. Ryuji and him were currently crouched low along the side of the house, peeking over the corner to get a look on the shed in the back yard. Ryuji stood behind him, a fist on the ground to keep himself balanced.

  
The blond poked his head past Akira to get a view of their surroundings, eyes going over the shed and into the darkness of the forest behind it. A chill ran down his spine just thinking about going near those woods at this time of night. He blinked, bringing his eyes back to the shed and taking in a breath to calm his nerves. It was better when they had time to prepare, unlike the poltergeist incident. “That things in there, right?”

  
Akira nodded, scoping the place out for a long moment before turning to face the blond. “Alright, here’s my plan.” He leaned in close to Ryuji, keeping his voice low. The blond stared intently at him, expecting to have to memorize a series of tasks to do. Instead Akira held a single finger up. “Set the shed on fire.”

  
Ryuji shook his head in confusion, like he misheard. “…That’s it?”

  
Akira nodded.

  
“…But what about the house?”

  
“You want to set the house on fire?” Akira raised an eyebrow, now the one confused.

  
“What? No! What if setting the shed on fire sets the house on fire?” Ryuji questioned, his voice starting to reach past that of a whisper.

  
“It’s too far, that wouldn’t happen.” Akira countered. “If it did, I would just stop it.”

  
“How are you going to stop a fire? Jump on it?”

  
“I have _spells_ , Ryuji.” Akira pointed out.

  
“Yeah, but who knows how many of those you can use. Or if any them are specifically for putting out a fire.” Ryuji huffed out, waving his hand to emphasize his point.

  
“Well, what’s your plan then?”

  
“Uh, I don’t know go in there and stab it?”

  
Akira’s eyes widened in disbelief at Ryuji’s comment. “You want to go _inside_ the shed and _stab_ a Wendigo?”

  
“Silver is supposed to work against them, right?” Ryuji reminded.

  
“But not as good as fire does. They’ve got ice hearts, Ryuji.”

  
Ryuji rolled his eyes. “You know who else has an ice hea—“

  
“--Who on earth are you two and what are you doing near my house?”

  
Ryuji and Akira both froze, eyes going wide as a soft light shined on them. Akira turned to face the man he’d seen at the shed during his previous visit, his hand holding up an old oil lit lantern. Neither of them had anything to say as the tall and thin man stared the pair down with a clear threat in his eyes.

  
Akira’s mouth cracked open like he was going to start explaining things, but his eyes went to the light flame flickering inside of the glass, no words coming out.

  
“Uh…” Ryuji started, trying to fill the air with some kind of explanation. “We’re…” He took a look over to Akira, who had now put all of the lying on him. “Trying to make out.”

  
Yusuke narrowed his eyes in suspicion while Akira closed his, his facial expression clearly screaming ‘that’s the best you could come up with?’ “On private property?” Yusuke questioned.

  
Ryuji shrugged his shoulders. “We’re drunk?” He tried, but it had even less believability to it than his previous remark.

  
Yusuke looked stumped on what to say, and Akira decided to take advantage of that brief moment. He reached outward and snatched the lantern from the thin man’s hands, taking it and sprinting towards the shed with it. “I’m setting your shed on fire!” He hollered back to which Yusuke’s eyes widened. He immediately turned to run after Akira, but Ryuji threw himself onto the thin man, tackling him into the ground and covering the two in dead leaves and twigs.

  
Akira took a glance over his shoulder and found comfort in Ryuji’s quick thinking to tackle the man. He knew he would have hell to pay for this but he’d much rather someone hate him than to let a Wendigo lose on the town.

  
Yusuke struggled, throwing his arms at Ryuji to try and get the man off of him. Ryuji’s upper body strength was much stronger than what Yusuke was dealing him, so the thin man started to kick at the blond. “Get off of me!” He yelled, throwing a particularly strong kick at Ryuji.

  
Ryuji tried to move out of the way of the kick, avoiding getting railed in the stomach but he lost balance in the process and still took the kick to his side. Yusuke then used his legs to push Ryuji off of him, the blond trying to recover quick enough to stop him from going after Akira.

  
Yusuke rolled onto his stomach to push himself upright but soon felt a hand slap tightly around his ankle. “Let go of me! My mother’s in there!”

  
“It’s not her!” Ryuji yelled at him. “That things just using you man!”

  
Yusuke stared down at Ryuji for brief moment, confusion evident in his eyes with the remark the blond had. He hesitated, but instead of commenting, he began kicking at the blond again to gain freedom from his grip. Ryuji held tight, wanting to make sure nothing could get in between Akira and taking out the Wendigo hiding in that shed.

  
His determination wasn’t quite as strong as Yusuke’s though, the man twisting his body and sending a heel across Ryuji’s face, disorienting him enough to break free of his grasp. Ryuji took a minute to recover, shaking his head and pushing himself upright.

  
Yusuke was fast. By the time Ryuji was already back to his feet, Yusuke had sprinted halfway across the yard, but not quite close enough to reach Akira before he made it to the shed.

  
Akira’s plan was to throw the lantern straight at the wood of the front doors but the closer he got to it, the stronger the wave of fear was that was trickling down his spine became. He could feel the Wendigo’s presence behind that door, and his mind was finding comfort in the grip of the lantern. He was getting too scared to do it, something that he hadn’t felt before.

  
“Please, don’t.” Akira’s eyes widened in shock at the familiar voice that came from the shed. It was like it was being whispered right in his ear, the words tickling his spine. “Don’t make me feel that kind of pain again Akira.”

  
“Ryuji…?” Akira breathed. He blinked slowly, like his brain was trying to remind him of something important, but he couldn’t bring whatever that information was to surface.

  
“Akira! Look out!” Akira’s brain seemed to snap back into reality, realizing whatever just happened must’ve been some affect that the Wendigo had on him. Hearing Ryuji’s actual voice over the one calling out to him seemed to shove all the fear he felt down, giving him ground again. He took a look over his shoulder, seeing Yusuke running towards where he stood and Ryuji struggling with his prosthetic to chase after him.

  
Akira’s eyes locked with dark blue, seeing the panic in them as he raised the lantern to the door of the shed. His right eye started to burn, an ache in his chest as his lips dripped a spell that was going to absolutely destroy the boy running after him.

  
_“Ignite.”_

  
He turned towards the shed, throwing his arm towards it and shattering the lantern against the door. In a matter of seconds, the entire shed lit up in flames. Akira’s ears rang from the piercing scream that came out of the flames, eyes shooting towards the source of it and breath hitching.

  
“No!” It was that woman’s voice from before. “No, no, no!” Akira took a step back, not understanding what was going on. He wasn’t sure if the Wendigo was mimicking Yusuke’s mother again or if that was from whatever entity his mother had turned into.

  
The wood on the door of the shed started to break, falling apart quicker than any other part of the structure. Akira assumed the flame would eat at the building and cause it to collapse, trapping and burning the Wendigo alive.

  
He didn’t expect the door to fall forward first and reveal what had been hidden in that shed all this time. His eyes widened, seeing the body of what he had to guess was a female based on the sun dress that draped off of what was left of the skeleton. She was on her knees, her hands angled at her stomach and gripping onto the hilt of something like a dagger. It looked as if she had stabbed herself, straight through to the stomach and out of the other end, pinning herself to the terrifying creature that Akira had currently locked eyes with.

  
“What the fuck is that…” Ryuji’s voice reached Akira’s ears, but he couldn’t pull his eyes away from the sight. He had seen drawings of Wendigos before, and heard rather thorough descriptions of them through Mishima, but none of it stood up to what he was seeing before him.

  
Its eyes were bright yellow, piercing right through Akira and chilling him down to the bone. It looked like at one point, it could’ve been human, but it had long since transformed from that. Its limbs looked to have been stretched out, the length that it could reach with its arm was uncanny. The “leg” part of the creature was about as long as Akira was tall, its skin an unnatural yellow color with random blotches of fur attempting to cover it. It’s bones poked and prodded out, the ribcage of the creature so protruded, there was space in between each rib. The face was what horrified the spellcaster the most, teeth pointed like a row of razors and the lips looking to have been ripped clear off. The only hint that this thing had once been human was the bit of hair that was tied loosely back. It arched forward unnaturally, the body pinned to it moving. The Wendigo had eaten the head clean off, her shoulder missing and most of the flesh gone from her body. The only organ of hers that remained was the chunk that the sword hard pierced through.

  
There was a light thump to Akira’s right, finally causing him to break eye contact with the creature and turn and see what the noise was from.

  
Yusuke had dropped like a rag doll, gaze staring forward at the growing flames and the creature cloaked within them. His mouth hung open slightly, eyes blown wide at the sight before him. He didn’t seem like he was processing what he was taking in, his limbs completely lifeless.

  
“Akira,” Ryuji called out, his voice shaking. “I thought you said that thing was trapped in there?”

  
Akira looked back towards it, knowing that the body was what was holding the creature in place but he couldn’t figure out what had kept the Wendigo in the shed. A sudden pain shot through his body, coursing directly into his right eye and making him wince. He snapped it shut, bringing a hand to it and trying to settle the pain.

  
“Akira?” Ryuji abandoned his place to run to his side, worry taking over his features at the pained expression Akira had. Akira couldn’t help but find it endearing that Ryuji would dismiss such a sight before him to come to his aid.

  
The spellcaster pulled his eye open, finding that he could see the energies before him again. Yusuke’s white color was unsettlingly still, moving like a cloud. Looking forward, the Wendigo’s red seemed to blend in with the burning flames surrounding it, making it hard for Akira to differentiate just how much power it had. He shifted his gaze down towards the body and made an inaudible gasp. That pink energy he saw before it was there again, but in the shape of the human pinned to the Wendigo. Her neck, face, and shoulders had all been returned, the expression it wore nothing but heartbroken.

  
He noticed now standing close to the shed that the same pink that the woman in front of him had was faintly surrounding the shed that he had set on fire. He took a hand and reached out for Ryuji, gripping his shirt. “Ryuji…” He started, eyes widening as he realized now why that woman had screamed no when the flames hit. “You were right… Should’ve went in and stabbed it.”

  
“Wh—“ Before Ryuji could get in a response, the Wendigo before them let out an ear piercing scream, the flames from the burning wood whipping outward like its scream alone could put it out. It stretched out, the faint pink Akira could see snapping like glass as it stood to its full height. They were in trouble.

  
The first thing the Wendigo did was bolt out of the flames, whips of wind being the only evidence of the direction it went. Akira tried to follow it from the red energy it had, but even he couldn’t keep up with it. There was another scream from it, snapping Akira and Ryuji’s attention to the roof of Yusuke’s house. The roofing tiles had been crushed under the Wendigo’s weight, it’s human like hand pushing on the body pinned to it, effectively pulling the silver weapon out of itself.

  
Akira was starting to highly regret how little they had truly prepared for this fight. People didn’t survive Wendigo attacks, why was he thinking he was any different?

  
“Dude?? Hey, guy c’mon! You can’t just sit there!” Akira blinked, turning to see Ryuji attempting to get Yusuke off the ground but he’d gone completely limp. Akira had to imagine he was in some state of shock from the scene that was laid before him. “You’re gonna die if you just sit there!”

  
Akira’s gaze snapped back to the roof, eyes locking with the beast that was staring at him like he was his next dinner. If he wasn’t careful, he might be. He took in consecutive deep breaths, calming his nerves down and twisting his brain for something to at least buy Ryuji and Yusuke enough time to get out of there.

  
He knew the spell to cast fire, but in order to use that he needed a source of flame to begin with. The shed was still burning, so he could use that if it came down to it. He also knew how to summon spirits, but there wasn’t any here to summon. He sort of knew a spell to get him out of the area. (Sort of meaning, not really. It was a moment he found himself in a bad situation and the power inside of him called the shots. Whatever happened, he didn’t know the exact steps of how to do it.) He also knew a lot of smaller spells, stuff that he was sure Mishima could even cast if he focused hard enough. None of that seemed to be of any use right now.

  
Taking in one last deep breath, he settled himself on trying to find a way to kill this Wendigo right here and now. They were hired to take care of this problem and he had yet to leave a job not done. Besides, it wouldn’t be good for business if they left a Wendigo to feast upon the town. “Ryuji.” Akira called out, eyes still focused on the beast. He wondered why it hadn’t moved from its spot yet.

  
The blond snapped his head towards Akira, his skin a bit pale from the situation they were slowly sinking into. “What?”

  
“Take Yusuke and get as close to those flames as you can stand.”

  
“What about you?”

  
“I’m going to kill this thing.”

  
Ryuji’s jaw clenched tightly, eyes narrowing at Akira in concern. He hated when Akira got like this—taking on the request like it was only his burden to bare. He knew better than to argue with his partner, knowing that doing so would only put them all at risk and with the way Yusuke was right now, he couldn’t let that happen.

  
Ryuji turned back to the pale man, kneeling down as best he could when his prosthetic locked up at the knee in a half-bent pose. He really needed to chew Iwai out for sending him off with something like this. “Hey.” The blond started, but Yusuke’s gaze remained locked onto the flames in front of them. “Hey!” He tried again, at least causing Yusuke to blink and come back to reality for a moment. “That thing out there is going to try to kill us, we can’t stay here.”

  
“ ‘Thing’?” Yusuke repeated.

  
“Yeah, that big nasty demon looking thing that’s chillin’ on your roof?” Ryuji threw a hand towards the creature that he was hoping wasn’t staring at him. Yusuke blinked blankly at him, eyes following the trail of his arm to the Wendigo that had torn up his roof. His eyes stared into the yellow of the creature, emotions he couldn’t understand twisting his gut.

  
“Madarame?”

  
“Mada-who-may?” Ryuji’s face twisted in confusion, knowing they didn’t have the time for this. Yusuke didn’t respond to him, his eyes still fixated on the Wendigo. “Ah fuck this.” Ryuji hissed, grabbing hold of Yusuke’s wrist and all but yanking him to his feet. It was like the boy’s legs were useless, almost dropping back to the ground before Ryuji gave another hard pull and basically dragged him towards the shed.

  
“Why did he..?” Yusuke mumbled to himself, asking half a question as Ryuji pulled him towards the flames. The blond didn’t understand his mumblings, ignoring him and deciding on looking for a line of defense that didn’t involve jumping into a stream of fire. There was nothing near them but the burning shed and dancing dead leaves—some of which were catching from the flames as well.

  
Akira took in a final deep breath and slipped out his silver dagger, flipping it in his hand and gripping it with the blade lining up along his forearm. The Wendigo made its move, launching itself off the roof of the building and going straight for Akira. Akira couldn’t keep up with its movements, the long limbs allowing it to move at a speed the spellcaster could barely catch.

  
He found himself ripped from the ground before he even made a connection to where the Wendigo had gone. He didn’t waste time looking for a vital spot to hit, throwing his arm up to where he was being held and slashing at whatever he could reach. There was a loud screeching noise escaping the Wendigo due to the cut, the creature whipped Akira out of its hold, body thrown straight past Ryuji and Yusuke and towards the woods. He hit the ground, tumbling a few times before coming to a stop, losing his blade in the process. “Akira!” Ryuji shouted, immediately going to run to his side.

  
“Stop!” Akira hissed out, causing the blond to halt his movements. He couldn’t risk Ryuji getting too far away from the flame and becoming the Wendigo’s next target. It would stay away from him if it had a risk of getting burned. Akira moved to push himself upright, letting out a soft gasp when his limbs were suddenly pulled away from the ground. He didn’t even hear the Wendigo come up. His body was pulled up to face the creature, the smell coming off of it making Akira’s stomach turn. It smelled just like the dead—worse if that was possible. The Wendigo opened its mouth, moving to tear into Akira but was interrupted when a block of charred wood connected with its skull. “Ryuji!” Akira yelled out, arms gripping onto the Wendigo’s limb to try and break free. “I told you to st—“

  
“—And watch you get eaten alive? Fuck that!” Ryuji hollered back, kicking at the burning shed to obtain another piece of flamed wood. Akira threw his legs at the Wendigo’s chest, trying to break free from the grip it had on him. It seemed that the Wendigo immediately lost interest in Akira, taking his body and throwing him into the closest tree, the force of it almost snapping the trunk in half and taking all the air from Akira’s lungs in the process.

  
The Wendigo turned for Ryuji then, locking on to the blond as he bounced the burned piece of wood from hand to hand like a hot potato. Ryuji finally got a grip on it and whipped it towards the Wendigo. The block hit the creature right in the face, causing it to shake its head. Ryuji would’ve whooped at his good aim had it not caused the Wendigo to disappear right in front of his eyes.

  
Ryuji turned to the shed lifting a leg to throw a kick at it but he wasn’t able to make the connection, the Wendigo grabbing hold of him at his waist. “Let go of me, you ugly fuck!” He immediately began to squirm in its hold, his eyes widening at the sight of the Wendigo’s teeth. He was way too close for comfort, that much was certain.  
Yusuke jolted when the Wendigo appeared near him, his gaze following up the sickening body and to the face that was staring down at the boy in its hands. He could see it in the way the cheekbones rested on the creature, and the way the hair hand been pulled back into a pony tail. He could see Madarame—his mother’s caregiver—in the creature that stood before him. His heart twisted in pain, the image of his mother’s body attached to this creature stirring a feeling of helplessness in him. He’d been unknowingly feeding such a monster, completely unaware of what it had done to his mother.

  
“How did you turn out like this…?” Yusuke questioned, more to himself than to the Wendigo. It wasn’t like he was expecting a response from him anyway, not any that he would accept. He bowed his head forward, hands clawing at the dead grass under him. He felt hurt and frustrated. Ignorant. “My mother…” His voice was low, the Wendigo, bringing Ryuji towards his mouth, the blond kicking at its face in a desperate attempt to get out of its hold.

  
Akira was struggling to pull himself upright, dragging his body through the dead leaves and trying to ignore the pain that blossomed throughout his back with each minimal movement. He lifted his head up, eyes latching on to the image of Ryuji kicking and punching at the creature. The Wendigo reached out to grab hold of the blond’s leg in an attempt to stop him from kicking.

  
For a split second, Akira had been thrown back in time, back to the image of the blond under the grip of another beast, ripping his leg apart from the rest of his body like Ryuji wasn’t anything more than a doll. Akira’s breath hitched, witnessing the same thing happening again—the Wendigo’s teeth digging straight into Ryuji’s leg.

  
He expected to see blood spurt out, like it had previously. He expected to hear Ryuji’s screaming and the crunching of bones as that thing ate his limb like a piece of jerky. His eye started to burn with a distracting amount of pain, pulling him straight from the memory he was reliving.

  
Akira brought a hand to cup over it, the pain growing with each pulse. He was almost thankful for it, bringing him back to where he was and realizing that the Wendigo had only taken in a mouth full of wood. Akira forced himself to ignore the pain surging through his body as he quickly charged towards the Wendigo deciding in that moment to never let the blond become bait like that again.

  
His movements faltered, a high-pitched ringing in his ears taking him by surprise. It started off quiet and soft but soon grew into a loud and angry scream. It wasn’t even a human scream, but something that sounded like it would come from a dog whistle. Akira’s balance became completely distraught, his vision wavering as the screaming seemed to take hold of him. It instantly locked up his movements, his brain feeling like it was swelling with each second that scream lasted.

  
He did his best to look up, seeing that the Wendigo and Ryuji were suffering through the same immobilizing spell he was. Ryuji had been dropped from the creatures hold, him twisting on the ground and covering his ears in an attempt to block it out. The Wendigo was throwing its head back and forth, bringing a hand to its side in an attempt to get away from the screams as well.

  
Akira’s eyes snapped over to Yusuke, wondering if he was suffering the same fate. Yusuke was hunched over, hands gripping his head like he was in pain. His shoulders were stiff, fingers grasping and releasing at his scalp and his whole body was tense. Akira’s eyes widened when he saw the man’s mouth open, realizing that the screaming was coming from him.

  
He pushed the discovery to the back of his mind, knowing that he didn’t have the time to think about what that meant. Instead Akira put his focus on the pain swelling in his right eye, pushing himself to a standing position and forcing past the disorienting scream to continue running at the Wendigo.

  
The air left his lungs, a deep voice inside his mind echoing with laughter and taking over his movements. He reached into his coat withdrawing the velvet book he had, hovering a hand over the pages as they flipped about wildly. Words he couldn’t understand dripped from his lips, vision locked onto the chest of the Wendigo as it thrashed about. A more intense pain exploded from his right eye, in the same moment the center of the Wendigo burst into an open flame, its mouth opening in a screech of pain.

  
Akira dropped to the ground as the Wendigo attempted to run from the flame before it engulfed it. He slapped a hand back over his eye, exhaustion starting to sink in as control came back to him. Each pulse sent through his body felt like a needle spiking through his eye. He clenched his free hand into a fist, gripping at the earth as he tried to tough it out through the waves of pain.

  
The immobilizing scream had stopped, Yusuke lifting his head up and watching the wendigo as it moved across the yard. The flame that burst from its chest continued to spread across its body, never becoming extinguished no matter what it did. A part of him wanted to stand and help, something deep within him still associating that creature with Madarame. He took in a deep breath, his throat feeling raw and dry. His eyes watched as the creature rolled in the dirt, its screech getting weaker and weaker the longer the flames cooked him.

  
“Nggh…” Ryuji groaned, one hand on his head as he pushed himself upright. He attempted getting up, spitting out a cough as he tore off the busted prosthetic. His head felt like it was still spinning, the scream leaving his ears ringing. Sitting upright, the blond stared at the burning wendigo in front of him, its movements withering away until it looked like nothing more than a burnt corpse. It laid there motionless as the flames died along with it, its figure looking much smaller than it did a moment ago. “Did the fucker die?” Ryuji questioned, rotating onto his knee and inching towards the body. He was slow, and cautious but after the first initial poke receiving no response, the blond moved to examine its face. It was charred and unrecognizable.

  
Akira was close to dropping himself against the ground but he resisted the temptation in favor of making sure Ryuji didn’t get his face torn clean off from poking at the enemy. He wished he had the energy to try and bring that vision back to him so he could at least see if the Wendigo had a colored energy anymore or not. His eye hurt too bad to attempt that and his body was too sore to even try. Instead, Akira dragged himself over to the blond and the corpse, examining it for a brief moment before dropping to the ground next to his partner.

  
“You alright?” Ryuji questioned, his face twisted in worry.

  
Akira didn’t honestly know the answer to that question so he stayed quiet. He looked to be in thought, like he was weighing whether or not his fatigue was something to be concerned about. Looking back to the blond, he leaned to place a soft kiss on his lips and pulled back with a light smile. “We’re alive, right?”

  
“Somehow.” Ryuji mumbled. “That was over quicker than I thought it would be.” His eyes moved from Akira to the charred corpse. He felt like there was something else they should be doing, like this battle wasn’t as hard as it should’ve been. Not that it wasn’t hard—but something felt wrong.

  
The sound of a soft gasp snapped his eyes away from the Wendigo and to his right. Yusuke sat on his knees, looking like a limp doll. A slender hand reached towards his throat, rubbing at it and coughing. He looked paler than he already was, and there was a slight sheen of sweat on his skin. “Dude,” Ryuji started, but Akira interrupted him as he sat up right and directed his attention towards the man.

  
“Yusuke.” Akira said his name like a command, demanding his attention. “Do you realize what that was?” He questioned. Even with how stern Akira sounded, Ryuji could easily tell how exhausted he was. The fact that he continued to cover his eye concerned him as well.

  
“….” Yusuke didn’t respond to him, his eyes drifting towards the burned Wendigo motionless in front of him. There was a brief moment that Akira caught where his trance seemed to break, cold blue eyes filling with such strong emotion before it was blinked away. He hesitated, not wanting to push the man after everything that happened. “…I don’t.” Yusuke finally spoke. His hand continued to rub at his throat, his head dropping downward. “It appears I’ve let my emotions overwhelm me.”

  
Ryuji grumbled to himself, starting to feel out of place. Thinking over the whole situation, the pair of them had just waltzed in and destroyed his everyday life. He didn’t know what he could say to even properly apologize for it.

  
“Mother used to reprimand me when my voice would get too loud.” Yusuke started, sounding sad as he continued to rub at his throat. “Perhaps she knew about this and was trying to prevent it.”

  
“Wait-“ Ryuji sputtered. “That scream was you?!” He assumed it had all been done by Akira. It wouldn’t have been the first time that the spellcaster had done something Ryuji hadn’t seen before and it definitely wouldn’t be the last either. Still, he didn’t expect Yusuke to have been the one that made him feel like his brain was going to burst out of his skull.

  
“It was.” Akira replied for him. “And it seems you don’t know much about it either from the way you’re acting.”

  
“I don’t.” Yusuke replied. He was quiet for a moment. “Why did you two come here? How did you know that wasn’t my mother in that shed?”

  
“Someone asked us to.” Ryuji responded, bringing a hand down towards where his prosthetic once was. “The ol’ lady next door was worried from some shit she was hearing. Akira scouted the place out last night and we came to take care of it today.”

  
“I see…” Yusuke’s eyes fell to the ground, hands leaving his throat and coming together in his lap. There was a heavy silence that weighed in among them, Akira rubbing at his eye and thinking. The sound of creaking pulled all three of their gazes towards the roof of the house that the Wendigo had leapt onto in the beginning. Some of the tiles were slipping off the roof, but the sound of cracking wood kept their eyes locked onto it.

  
The roof ended up collapsing inwards, leaving a giant hole behind. Yusuke’s lips parted with an inaudible gasp as Ryuji winced. Akira didn’t make a noise, instead turning to look at the still burning shed. They really did some damage here.

  
“Shiiiiiiit,” Ryuji hummed. As if his words had some impact on the building, the shed began to collapse in on itself, dirt and dust spewing outwards as the flames continued to feast on the old wood. Yusuke stared blankly at the rolling flames, the orange hue from it barely reaching his skin. Ryuji was waiting for the man to snap and attack them, but it never came. Lord knows how mad the blond would be if two assholes showed up, set his shed on fire, collapsed his roof, murdered whatever that Wendigo had been to him before, and possibly traumatized him with the skeleton of what had to of been his mother.

  
Ryuji blinked in surprised as he watched Yusuke stand up. He was slow as he walked towards the back of his home. Akira and him stared in curiosity, their hearts sinking as they realized he was heading towards the bones that had once been attached to the chest of the Wendigo. Yusuke stared down at it for a moment before bending over and removing the dagger that was lodged into the skeleton. He turned it over in his hand, missing how much brighter the dress had looked on his mother before she had disappeared. “I must be part to blame for the situation my mother was placed in prior to her death.” He commented. “I knew something wasn’t right but I never would have thought Madarame to become such a creature…let alone harm my mother in anyway.”

  
Akira pulled his hand away from his eye, keeping it closed as he struggled to stand up. Ryuji watched him, wanting to help but knowing Akira wouldn’t accept it. Once on his feet, he reached a hand out for Ryuji, helping him up and allowing the blond to use him as a crutch. The two slowly made their way towards Yusuke.

  
The pale man spared a glance at them as they approached, but turned back to face the dagger in his hand. “There is a lot I don’t understand about what happened tonight.” Neither of them said anything in response, Ryuji staring down at the bones at their feet. Yusuke’s voice shook just a bit with his next words, finally some emotion escaping his rather stoic expression. “I feel lost.”

  
“Come back with us.” Akira suggested. “We can help.”

  
“Why would I do such a thing?”

  
Ryuji spoke up then. “Because you got nothing else to lose.” Yusuke flinched to the words, hand tightening around the dagger. “You wouldn’t really wanna stay in place like this after all the bad shit that’s gonna be connected to it, would ya?”

  
Yusuke sighed. “I suppose you’re right in that sense.” He brought his gaze up to look at the pair. “I feel as though I should harbor hate for you two.. Yet I can’t help these feelings of gratitude for ending that cursed cycle I was going through.”

  
Akira kept his eyes on Yusuke. “We’ll help to explain everything that happened here if you come with us. Let these events sink in and maybe after we go over what we know, you’ll be able to sort everything out better.”

  
Yusuke was quiet as he mulled over the idea. He dropped the arm holding the dagger to his side, looking at their surroundings. The shed was on fire, part of his home had collapsed, and the only thing that seemed welcoming to him was the darkness of the forest that tried to lure him in through whispers of the wind. Home was suddenly very empty and very cold. “I think I will.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [ tumblr ](https://ryujisfuckinpatience.tumblr.com/)   
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The scent of ash pulled Ryuji from his slumber, the light smell causing him to face his body towards the source of it. A clanking sound accompined the smell, drowning out the very soft hums coming from the lips of the person causing his morning stir. Ryuji groaned, pulling his eyes open and trying to blink the sleep from it. He registered first the medicine bowl with a pale hand rotating a rod like object inside of it. A couple more blinks and he started to wonder what the hell Akira was doing.

  
As if the man heard his thoughts, Akira glanced over his shoulder from his place on the floor. He smiled lightly upon meeting Ryuji's eyes. "You're awake."

  
"What's that?" Ryuji questioned, eyes drifting back to the bowl in his partner's hands.

  
Akira turned his attention back to it as well. "Something I'm practicing." He looked towards his lap to reference something Ryuji couldn't see. "I don't think I did it right." There were a couple sticks of incense that were placed very peculiarly around the man, a sight Ryuji had gotten used to seeing. It didn't seem to happen as much lately though.

  
Ryuji sat upright and stretched his arms over his head, a few joints popping as he did so. "How's your back doin' man?" He questioned in between a yawn.

  
Akira reached a hand behind him and rubbed a spot, but shrugged. "Fine, I guess." He dismissed the subject before it could go further, standing up and taking his failed spell with him as well. Ryuji watched with a lazy face as he took it across the room to the bathroom and out of his line of sight. Letting out a second yawn, he threw the covers off himself and swung his body towards the edge of the bed. Planting his foot on the floor, his gaze moved to his missing limb. The idea of going to Iwai now and asking for another replacement felt like a death sentence, but it irritated Ryuji to not be able to get up and moving as easily on his own now.

  
His hand felt the skin at the end of his thigh, the scar tissue there rigid and rough. It'd been just over three years since he lost it, and he'd learned to live with it quickly. He still had his days though, where he felt like he had somehow become something of an incomplete human. Ryuji pulled his eyes away, not allowing his thoughts to go where they were heading. He looked up to see Akira coming back out from the bathroom, a towel in hand as he dried his palms off. Akira made his way towards the blond, bending down enough to press a kiss to Ryuji's forehead. "You're thinking too much." He commented as he pulled away. "That's not like you to do so this early in the morning."

  
Ryuji rolled his eyes. "It's not even that early, is it?"

  
Akira replied with a smirk, moving away from the bed to retrieve the pair of crutches Ryuji had been using to get around. He took them from Akira and pulled himself up. "How's the new guy doing?"

  
Akira shrugged. "I saw him dip out pretty early this morning with a sketchbook."

  
"What the hell were you doing up to spot that?"

  
"Couldn't sleep." Akira replied nonchalantly.

  
Ryuji made his way towards the dresser they shared, retrieving a new shirt for the day. "I thought it felt like I had more bed space than usual." That pulled a chuckle from Akira. He debated on pointing out that Ryuji took up most of the bed, but decided to leave it unsaid. The blond pulled a shirt on over his head, dragging his hand through his hair to do his form of "brushing". This mostly consisted of just making his bed hair look more intentional than accidental. Letting out a yawn he turned to his partner. "What's the plan for today?"

Akira moved towards his bedside, putting away the few things he used for the spell he'd been practicing. He hummed as he pulled out the blue velvet book he always carried on him. "Yuuki's got a few small requests I thought we could tackle. There's a delivery I think we can start with just to get Yusuke in the swing of things and see how he does."

"Alright, not a bad idea," Ryuji nodded. "How're we  gonna do this delivery though? Bike's busted."

Akira flipped the book in his hands over, running his fingers over the cover. "You're definitely not gonna like that part."

Ryuji's head dropped. "We're walking?" Akira nodded and the blond groaned. "And on crutches of all things." 

"C'mon it's not that bad." Akira stated. "It's just outside the town, so it's not even that far." 

"What's it for?" Ryuji questioned. 

"I don't know, I haven't asked Yuuki yet." Akira nodded his head towards the door, grabbing his jacket and slipping it on as he stepped out of their room and into the hallway. Ryuji followed after him, letting the door fall close behind him. The two made their way down the hall, murmurs of familiar voices becoming more distinguishable the closer they stepped in. Akira had a concentrated look on his face, trying to figure out who Mishima was speaking to, while Ryuji seemed unbothered by it. 

"Cut the small talk, where are those two?" A sharp voice cut through the air making Akira and Ryuji both freeze in place just as they stepped into the lobby. 

"Oh no," Ryuji mouthed. Akira immediately gripped his shirt to pull him back into the hall but they were called out before they could hide. 

"Sakamoto!" Ryuji visibly winced to the venom in the woman's voice. "Kurusu is there as well? Perfect." 

With a defeated sigh, the two stepped back into the lobby. Akira cleared his throat, trying to put on a much more charismatic persona. "Wow, we must've done something grand to be visited by both sisters." He nodded towards the younger one that stood ramrod straight by the desk. Akira noticed how pale Mishima looked by their presence too. "Sae, I would've thought you would be too busy to stop by."

"I AM too busy for this." She hollered, arm crossed and face looking extremely irritated. "I don't know what kind of magic you think Makoto and I have, but what you did to that cemetery is way outside our skill level."

"Cemetery?" Ryuji blinked, though he knew exactly what she was referencing. "What makes you think we had anything to do with a cemetery?"

Apparently that was the wrong thing to say because the tall woman's face grew even tighter in irritation. She turned towards her younger sister and held out her hand to receive an envelope. She pulled out what was inside, and turned them over towards Ryuji as she stepped closer. "Correct me if I'm wrong but I was under the assumption that you once owned a 1950's Norton Manx motorcycle with some distinct stickers and slogans on it." Sae held a picture of the damage done to the cemetery, Ryuji's bike a crumpled mess in the midst of the destruction there. He winced looking at the image, turning his head away. "I thought perhaps maybe someone else in town was also registered under the same bike, but it occurred to me that there isn't a single person in this place with a personality as obnoxious as yours and those stickers really captured that."

"I didn't know you were here for murder." Akira commented, taken back by Sae's comments. Her eyes snapped to him, but he didn't flinch. "We get it, we made a mess."

"A mess? You destroyed a sacred place." Sae replied. "I hope that whatever caused that destruction perished there as well."

"Of course it did, when have we ever not done our job?" Akira noticed the sarcastic eye roll from Mishima but bit back the snarky comment he would've had for him.

The younger of the two stepped in then. "Sis, remember what we came here for."

Sae took in a deep breath to compose herself and then stared hard at Akira. He could already feel this going into bargaining territory, something he was not a fan of. "We've already established an explanation for this damage and will be releasing it to the public soon. There's a team of people that are currently working on disposing of any evidence that would link you two to the cause."

Akira let out a sigh. "What do you want from us?"

"I'm glad there's brains somewhere between the lot of you." Sae commented, side-eyeing Ryuji. The blond rolled his eyes in response. She turned back to Akira, pulling out some papers from the envelope and passing them over to him. "This was a former colleague of mine. He went missing a few years ago and we've just recently heard that he's been admitted into a psychiatric ward. "

Akira stared at the image of the man that was included on the paper. He had shaggy brown hair that reached his shoulders, and eyes that reminded him quite a bit of Makoto's. He looked away from the photo and up to Sae. "And?" He pushed, knowing there was more to the story than what Sae had explained. 

She let out a sigh. "We also found out that following his admittance there's been a string of deaths that were linked to back to him."

Makoto spoke up then. "Apparently he's been murdering the nurses' that are caring for him."

Ryuji and Akira exchanged a look, Akira turning back to Sae and handing the papers back to her. "We don't deal with psychopaths. If he's murdering people, that's for the cops to deal with, not us."

Sae didn't take the papers back, her eyes staring down at them. "Akira..."

"He's been restricted to an empty room with padded walls and has to have 24 hour supervision because of this." Makoto started. "The way he's been supposedly murdering these people is the reason we're coming to you with this." 

Akira didn't like the sound of that. He looked back down at the papers in his hand as Makoto explained further. "All his victims have died from suicide, and they've all reported that what led them to it was how Akechi cursed them."

"Is that really murder?" Ryuji commented. "I mean, how can they prove he was actually cursin' everyone?" 

"At the very least it can be tried as assisted suicide." Sae explained. "And that's what we were hoping you could find out. If he isn't really cursing anyone, then I can take it from there to help prove him innocent and.. If he is..." She took in a breath. "Then I hope we can figure out the method and get him straightened out." 

Akira was quiet as he stared over the information the pair had provided. He was getting all kinds of bad vibes from this, but the sisters had put the both of them in a position where they couldn't really refuse them. "We don't really have a choice on this, do we?"

"No, you don't." Sae commented. 

He huffed, folding the papers and tucking them into his book. "Alright, but it's not top priority I hope you know."

"That's fine, but I will be expecting updates." She commented.  Sae turned to Makoto and shared a look with her. This seemed to be the cue for the two to leave, Makoto nodding and turning towards the door. "By the way," Sae stopped, looking over her shoulder at the pair of them. "This is a one time thing. You two make a mess that big again and I'll have your heads hanging on a plate in my office."

Ryuji winced. "Yes ma'am." 

Makoto raised a hand toward the door, only to jump back when it was yanked open. 

"Akira-!" Akira's eyes moved to the commotion, raising a brow at the light in the eyes of the artist that just came stumbling through the door. He was taken by surprise at the two women leaving, stepping to the side to let them out. Yusuke's gaze followed after them before turning to the three men left in the lobby with a questioning expression. He easily dismissed it though, and brought his attention back to Akira. "Akira, there's-"

"-Perfect timing man." Ryuji interrupted. "We were just about to look for you to head out."

Whatever information Yusuke had to share was dismissed, the man cocking his head to the side in a curious gaze. "There was something that required my attention?" 

Akira's thoughts were still on the request that the Niijima sisters left him with, his attention finally brought to the group with a light shove from Ryuji. Taking a breath, he turned to Mishima, who was looking a little less pale with the sisters gone. "Yuuki," He started, walking towards the desk he sat behind. "Do you have that delivery ready?" 

Mishima bent down under the desk for a moment before coming up with a wrapped box, twine crossing over the wrapped package to keep it from coming undone. He placed a folded piece of paper on the top and pushed it forward towards the three. "The contents are on that slip. You know where to go, right?"

"Mr. Edogawa's place, right?" Mishima nodded as Akira took the slip and then moved to pass the box off to Ryuji.

The blond cocked an eyebrow at the package before looking up at Akira. "Uh, dude?" He directed his attention towards his missing prosthetic, Akira staring at him with a flat expression. 

"Right." Akira mumbled. He looked over to Yusuke and smiled at him. "Well, we're taking you on the delivery anyway, might as well throw some responsibility at you."

Yusuke accepted the package with both hands, looking it over quizzically. "What is this?" He asked. 

Akira looked over the slip. "Just looks like standard ingredients for home brew spells. Rosemary, thyme, that kind of stuff."

"You deliver this to people?"

"'Course we do," Ryuji started. "Mishima's family is probably one of the few people that grow it and can get it out fresh. Spells work best with fresh ingredients."

"Oh," Yusuke hummed. "Ryuji, I didn't take you for someone that practiced this kind of stuff."

Ryuji laughed. "That's cause I don't." He nodded over at Akira and Mishima. "Everything that I know, these two hounded into my skull. Like hell you'll catch me practicing anything."

"I still think you'd be good at it." Akira commented. 

"I don't," Mishima added. "Can you imagine him trying to concentrate on one single thing for that long of time?"

"Hey watch it," Ryuji threatened. "I don't need spells to kick your ass, you know." Mishima let out a huff and rolled his eyes, turning to the side. Ryuji's eyes lingered on him for a moment before relaxing and turning back to Yusuke. "Anyway, Akira wanted to start to introduce you to some of the stuff we do. See if its something that keep you around or not."

"I appreciate it." Yusuke stated, turning towards Akira then. "Shall we head out then?"

* * *

"Thanks, let the family know I said hi."

"Sure thing, Mr. Edogawa." Akira waved off to the man as he closed his door and turned back to his group. Ryuji had taken the opportunity to use a small tree stump as a resting spot, rubbing at the area under his arm while his crutches rested at the side. Akira let out a sigh at the sight. "We should really stop to see Iwai."

"No way in hell," Ryuji protested. "You weren't there last time, he'll take my head if he sees I busted another prosthetic this soon."

"Okay but I'm here now," Akira countered. "And I think it'd be a good idea to let Yusuke meet him as well."

"No." Ryuji's voice was stern, his expression even more so. "Not today at least." 

Akira could agree with that, although he did decide to give the blond a look of disapproval. "Well, that's the babiest of baby things we do." He sighed out, turning to Yusuke. "People pay us to bring them all sorts of things. Crystals, candles, herbs--what ever they need for the studying they're doing." He reached a hand out to Ryuji, encouraging him to stand up so they could get to walking again. "It also helps us to keep track of who we may need to look out for. Like if someone requests something like wolf's bane, we know they are probably up to no good and can keep an eye on them." 

"Then there's the behind the scene's stuff." Ryuji interjected. "Like what we did at your place." He brought himself up with a groan and readjusted himself until he was comfortable on his crutches. "Sometimes people come across stuff that they don't understand or can't handle. For whatever reason, they kept calling Mishima's place for Yuuki to take care of. Probably because of their side business honestly. If you sell stuff for spells then ya can handle some demons, right?"  Akira rolled his eyes like the comment had brought up some previous painful encounter for him. "Anyway, something had to get done so Akira and I started looking into 'em. Now it's just sort of a thing we do."

"Plus it's where we get all our money." Akira added. "And I get to learn a little bit more about my powers as well."

"Ah yes," Yusuke peaked up at Akira's mention of his odd abilities. "That's something that I'm quite interested in as well. You've talked a lot about spells but I've never seen such fluid and powerful casting such as yours."

Akira shrugged. "I know about as much as you do unfortunately."

Yusuke hummed. "That is unfortunate. Although I suppose I'm in the same boat you are." He brought a finger to his chin in thought. "Actually, if you don't mind I do have something to propose to you." Akira raised an eyebrow at him in curiosity, nodding for him to continue. "Earlier today while I was out hoping to sort through some personal things, I discovered a place that was quite fascinating. At first, I thought the feelings flowing through me might have been some new found inspiration for the piece I was working on, but I realized that wasn't the case at all. It was something I hadn't experienced before."

Akira shared a look with Ryuji, who was just as interested in the subject as he was. "Where was this place?"

"It's outside of town. I can take us there if you want."

"Sure, but what was it that got you talking about it?" Ryuji questioned. 

Yusuke's eyes fell to the ground as he thought. "Well...I'm not sure how to explain it." He took a moment to gather his thoughts. "The only thing I can think of is that there's definitely something supernatural happening there. Its like there was an alarm running through me. I figured Akira would know better than I would what it is that I'm sensing." He ended his thoughts with a shrug. "It could turn out to be nothing after all, but I would like a second opinion at the least."

"Doesn't sound like nothing'," Ryuji mumbled, turning to Akira. "Whaddya say?"

"Let's check it out."

 Yusuke smiled in response and then nodded towards the left of their position. "It was over in that direction." He took the lead and started to direct them towards the place he found, Akira lingering back to examine Ryuji's state and make sure he was up for another long trek. Wherever they were going, he had to make sure he had the energy to get back home. 

"Stop it." Ryuji snapped at him after spotting Akira's hand lingering at his side. He knew Akira didn't do it on purpose but honestly, if he couldn't handle getting around on crutches for a  _day_ , he wouldn't be doing something like this to begin with. Akira retracted his hand, noticing Yusuke looking back at them questionably. He easily dismissed it though and continued forward. 

They made their way past the town and followed along the road that led out towards other places. The surface of the ground went from being solid and pebbly, to soon turning into mush and muddy. It was difficult to walk through, but Yusuke made his way through each obstacle like it was nothing. Yusuke led them off the road and through some tall grass. Akira noticed the faint hints of an old trail that was slowly becoming over grown. It piqued his curiosity for their destination even further. Turning his head back to the blond falling behind, he waited patiently and watched as he struggled to keep up. 

Ryuji was getting frustrated with this back of the woods traveling they were doing, but he took his frustration out on the crutches that kept getting stuck in the mud and keeping him from moving as fast as he would like to. Looking up to see how far ahead the other two, he found Akira watching him and lingering back for him while Yusuke had climbed up and stood atop a fallen over tree that seemed really out of place of the surrounding field. 

"Its up ahead." Yusuke called out, turning back to look at the other two.  Akira moved from his place and approached Ryuji, taking his arm from under the crutch and wrapping it over his shoulders. Ryuji didn't protest, passing the crutch to Akira's free arm and moving with him towards Yusuke. Yusuke reached down and brought a hand out to help hoist the blond over the tree, Ryuji hesitating before being passed from Akira to Yusuke. Akira followed after them, handing the crutches up to them as he climbed up. 

He was caught off guard by the sound of giggling eating at his ear. He turned his attention over his shoulder, looking out at the empty field behind them and spotting nothing. 

"Akira?" He looked up to his name, seeing Yusuke and Ryuji staring down at him confused. "You see something?" 

Akira took another look over his shoulder but finally dismissed the noise. After pulling himself up and over the large trunk in front of them, he dropped to the ground and looked forward, hoping to understand a bit more what Yusuke had been talking about. His eyes landed immediately on the rotting building a little ways in front of them. There appeared to be what once was a structure to a similar building beside it, but all that stood there were beams and rubble from its frame. The one still standing looked in way better condition. It was missing windows and the wood that made the walls was chipping an missing in some places. It looked close to a farm house. If Akira had to take a guess, that's probably what it once was. 

There was something else about it though, that made him instantly understand what Yusuke was talking about. He felt a presence, that was for sure but it was something he hadn't experienced before. It was warm and inviting, but all that did was make Akira suspicious of the place. "Stop-" He called out as Ryuji and Yusuke started to head towards it. 

They both turned to face him, stopping immediately. "Akira, can you already feel what I was talking about? From all the way over here?"

"Yeah, and I don't like it." Akira stared out at the overgrown field in front of them. The decaying building on top of the over grown and neglected field should have had anyone feeling weary about going near it, but it seemed to have the opposite effect. He felt like he was being beckoned forward, and it set off all kinds of alarms in his body. 

"Is it bad? I wanna go check it out." Ryuji questioned, eyes drawn to the building. 

"It's not bad at all and that's what's freaking me out." Akira replied, stepping past the two and continuing to look around hoping he was missing something obvious. 

"Maybe something good is gonna happen to us for once?" Ryuji commented, positioning his crutches again and moving towards the building. 

Yusuke looked torn between what to do. "I want to check it out as well." He spoke. "We can always leave if you don't feel like it's safe for us to be here." 

Before Akira could agree or disagree, Yusuke had already moved to follow Ryuji towards the building. He let out a sigh and trailed after them, keeping his eyes peeled for anything that seemed out of place. 

Ryuji reached the door to the building first, looking around the front of it before he climbed the porch stairs and walked towards a window. "Wow, it looks pretty nice in there..." He pulled away from it and turned towards Akira. "Did you ever know about this place?" 

Akira shook his head, eyes taking in all the details of the wooden building. He didn't normally go this way either, and the route Yusuke had taken to get here was very specific. He looked over to the new member. "You just found this place?"

Yusuke nodded. "Yes, this morning." He climbed the steps after Ryuji and looked over the door. "I was trying to find the right lighting for some drawing studies and ended up all this way out here." 

"You weren't led here?"

Yusuke blinked. "....Not at all." 

"Akira you're being a lil weird." Ryuji pointed out

"Not weird, just cautious."

"Yeah and that's a bit weird." He turned away from him and then reached passed Yusuke and tried the doorknob. To his surprise the door clicked open easily. Ryuji pushed it further, the three of them peaking inside before stepping foot in it at all. The first thing they all seemed to notice was how warm it was. That in itself wasn't so much a surprise but it wasn't an uncomfortable warmth. It made the sense of welcoming even stronger for the three and Akira found himself reaching for his side pocket.

Yusuke's eyes seemed to light up with every bit of detail he took in of the place. It was dusty and the wall paper that once seemed to light up the room was peeling from the corners and ripped in certain places. The floorboards creaked with each step taken forward, some feeling weaker than others. Akira lingered by the door for a moment, looking over the rooms that were in his sight. It all looked the same. Dusty, old, and abandoned. Furniture was still in place from whomever it was that lived here previously, making it look like the previous owner just up and left one day. He stepped away from the door and went towards the right, eyes drawn to a bookshelf pressed up against the wall of what must've been a study room. Ryuji and Yusuke both went their own way, walking through and examining other places of the house on their own. Akira paid it no attention, reasoning there couldn't be anything to harm them in such a neglected place. He brushed his fingers along the spines of the books, a clean streak crossing over them from the dust he wiped away.  His fingertip rested at the top of the binding on one particular book, the unknown language peaking his interest. He tilted the book towards him and looked it over in his hands. Dust drifted off of it as Akira handled it, the book creaking open as the binding was bent for the first time in who knows how long. Whatever language it was this was written in, Akira hadn't seen before but he was fascinated by it. He moved slowly through the house, eyes skimming over the pages and looking at the few illustrations that were in it.  There were images of what looked like women, with demonic features varying by the picture. The most common one were horns and a tail he noticed. 

_"Don't you want to see me instead of looking at those pictures?"_

"Yeah..."

" _Then come see me."_

Akira mouthed an okay, his steps taking him through the room he was in and further into the house. He continued to flip through the pages of the book he was holding, pictures of these women torturing and feasting on men becoming more and more frequent the further into the book he looked. He blinked, bringing his attention forward and snapping the book closed as he started to come to a realization about what had happened. He was thrown off when met with Ryuji standing in front of him, body facing a closed door from the other side of the stair case. His eyes were focused on the wooden door, hands resting on the handles of his crutches. 

Yusuke stood in the room beside it, staring with concern at the blond and then passing the same gaze on to Akira. Akira looked Ryuji over and then stared at the door. "...Did you hear something...?"

"Huh...?" Ryuji blinked, coming out of his spur and turning to Akira. "...I don't think so." He seemed unsure, which started to make Akira question what he thought he heard a moment ago himself. 

"Were you led here?" 

"Maybe."

Akira looked down at the book in his hands before setting it on a table lining the wall beside him. He moved passed Ryuji and went for the doorknob, twisting it open and swearing that the creaking of the door sounded just like the woman's giggling he heard outside. He should've been just as on edge as he was when they stepped inside the house, but it was like something was blocking all logical thought from making its way to his brain. The dark staircase that greeted them seemed to pull him in, his thoughts focused on where that voice came from. 

Behind him, Yusuke followed in after him and then turned to assist Ryuji in climbing down the stair case as well. Akira cautiously crept further into what seemed more like a tunnel than a basement, each step getting dimmer and dimmer. 

"Akira?" Yusuke called out to him. "Do you still think it's a good idea to continue forward?"

Akira hesitated in his response. He tried to think about the reasons why they shouldn't but nothing came to surface. "I want to find out what's down here."

Yusuke seemed concerned with the reply he was given. He looked over the walls they were passing, catching hints of clawing on them. He hurried his pace to catch up with Akira, looking over the man with worry for what they might be getting into. 

Ryuji followed behind them, curiosity just as evident on his face as Akira's but he had a more fascinated gleam to him than the spellcaster leading them did. Akira held what seemed to be determination in his features. Yusuke had to wonder if they always went into situations like this and if they did, how they hadn't died a long time ago. 

Their walking seemed to drag on, the three realizing that they hadn't stepped foot into a basement, but something more like an underground man-made cave. The warmth that they felt stepping into the house seemed to increase with each step they took. The air between them seemed thicker but with something that Akira was willingly choosing to ignore. He peeked over his shoulder to see how the other two were doing and found that aside from the careful steps he took, Yusuke seemed fine. Ryuji on the other hand...

Ryuji was clearly being affected by whatever it was they were walking into and it confirmed it for Akira that he wasn't just having a moment himself. Ryuji's cheeks were flushed a rosy pink color, his breathing thicker than normal and his steps weak. His eyes were cast downward, seeming to be struggling to find something to focus on. Akira had to snap his head forward to keep from noticing the finer details Ryuji was suffering through. He recognized that face of his way too well and it was one that was supposed to be for his eyes only. 

Akira took in a deep breath in a failed attempt to calm his nerves. There was a voice inside him that was screaming at him to linger back and to keep Yusuke's attention as far away from Ryuji as possible. He wanted to force Yusuke to walk ahead of them and to keep his eyes from looking their way the further in they walked. Akira's sudden possessiveness must have taken some control over his movements because he soon found himself staring at Yusuke's face ahead of him. He looked more concerned than last time. 

"Are you two alright?" He asked, his voice bringing some sense back into Akira's thoughts. 

Akira blinked as the situation he found himself dealing with started to come to surface in his mind. He swallowed a lump in his throat. "Yusuke keep talking." He commented, making the new member blink in surprise.

"Talking? About what?" 

"I don't know--anything. Doesn't matter."

Yusuke looked down in thought, trying to find a subject worthy to ramble about. "Well, let's see..." He took a look at his surroundings hoping to get some ideas from that. "It's funny how I can't come up with anything to talk about when put on the spot like this." His eyes ghosted over the pair behind him, fingers coming to his chin in thought. "Neither of you two look well at all... If I'm being honest, I'm concerned about both the two of you and the mess we could be getting into."

"Uh-huh." Akira hummed. 

"Mm...." Ryuji groaned. He took in a sharp intake of air, like he might've been in pain. He snapped his eyes closed, his hands gripping tightly to the handles on his crutches. Yusuke sighed, turning his face forward and continued to talk about his worries with their situation but Ryuji didn't hear any of it. When he brought his eyes opened, he was found staring at the man next to him. "Akira...." He just about mewled and while it was quiet and only between the two of them, it rang loud in Akira's ears. 

"---can't help but feel like the scratches along the cave--"

Akira let out a shaky breath, his mind fighting between paying attention to the voice in front of him, or the ridiculous flustered man beside him. He blinked, trying so hard to focus on just Yusuke, but Ryuji's presence was so obnoxious and increasingly hot beside him. It was like standing next to a flame and he couldn't stop himself from jumping straight into it.

"--This sensation I'm sensing is only getting stronger and I really--" Yusuke took a glance over his shoulder, hoping his words had convinced the two to turn around and gather themselves before jumping into this. His words fell short when he found himself completely alone. He spun in front of him and then once again behind him to verify that the two had indeed, left him. "..Akira...?" He waited a moment in hopes of hearing a reply. "Ryuji? Akira?" Yusuke stood still for a moment, dumbfounded at how quickly the two had disappeared from him. He brought a hand to the wall beside him, looking back the way they had come. There had been a few openings they had passed through their time down there, but he didn't understand how the two--or  _why_ \-- they left so quickly. "This seems bad." Yusuke said to himself. 

"Oh no!" A feminine voice snapped the artist's attention behind him, quickly moving into a defensive position as his eyes came across a woman--no, a  _creature--_ he had never seen before. Her skin was light, a ghostly looking color and her hair was big and blond, waves of it cascading over her shoulders from their holds in her pigtails. She had horns that circled around the pigtails, a red color with a stone texture. Her nails were unnaturally long and threateningly sharp Yusuke noted and the cat like movement of what he could only think to describe as a rat tail behind her only added to his instant distrust in her. "It looks like you got separated!"

"What are you?" He questioned with a bite to his tone. 

The woman rolled her eyes and feigned hurt towards him. "Wow, is that any way to treat a lady?" She cooed, stepping forward. "I was just going to offer some help."

"I don't require your help." Yusuke replied, taking a step backwards. 

"You don't?" She repeated, her tail flicking back and fourth behind her. "That's strange, cause I think you do." She giggled, bringing her hands together behind her back. "Those two fY&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&777777777777777777EWwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwq111111111111

**Notes for the Chapter:**

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